


Here Comes The Sun

by Fitzzzsimmons



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 26,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28386924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fitzzzsimmons/pseuds/Fitzzzsimmons
Summary: Fitz's life is changed forever when he encounters two best friends, Jemma and Skye, and just in time because life has dealt him a difficult hand.Snapshots from the first 6 months of Fitz’s friendships with Skye and Jemma after they meet at university.
Relationships: Jemma Simmons & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Comments: 19
Kudos: 26





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was orignally a fic I posted back in 2015/16 and then life got busy and then I thought it had been too long since I last posted to contiue so I just left it... Past me didn't make good desisions. That fic was called 'Tea or Coffee?'. Over the chirstmas period I felt compelled after all these years to finish it and also do a bit of an edit/rewrite. The general story is the same but hopefully its better written now. It's still set in 2015 but its only really noticable by a couple of pop culture references.
> 
> I decided to start again rather than update the old one as I have made a fair few changes so thought it best to start afresh.
> 
> Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy it.

Fitz was sat in the quiet coffee shop enjoying his book when the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen walked in. He watched her whilst she placed her order, he didn’t mean to, she was just very beautiful. As she turned away from the counter with her drink their eyes met. _Uh oh…_ He quickly looked down and did the only thing he could think to do. Take a big gulp of his tea. Anything to stop the moment being so awkward.

The second the scolding hot tea hit his mouth he realised his mistake. He begun to splutter and open his mouth wide in a desperate attempt to cool his mouth off. To top it off the girl was still watching him. She had even let out a little laugh. Then she did the worst possible thing she could have done. She walked up to him.

“Here you go, have some water. That looked painful. You can keep the bottle, I'll get a new one, you need it more than I do.” The brunette said with an American accent.

“Uhh… thank you…” Fitz mumbled, unsure of how to interact with such a beautiful woman.

“So you make a habit of gawking at girls?”

“Wha- No of course not! I wasn’t gawking, I was, I was just, I, I-” Fitz spluttered, growing more mortified by the second.

“Hey, calm down will ya, I’m just messin’.” The girl said with a lopsided smile.

Fitz let out a quiet “Oh...” This was as stressful as it was confusing.

The girl looked like she was suppressing a smile. “Well I'm meeting a friend soon, so I'll leave you to enjoy…” she peered down reading the title of his book “‘The Grand Design’… cool. Seeya.” She said before walking back to her booth. He wanted to clarify that this was his second time reading the book, obviously he'd read it when it first came out and now he was doing it for his class, but she'd gone before he could speak. In hindsight it was probably a good thing, that most likely wasn't the way to impress a beautiful girl.

Alone again and sipping his tea, a much less enjoyable activity with a burnt tongue, he began to relax again and get back to reading the familiar book. Although it didn't particularly link to his degree, one of his professors liked them to do a lot of wider reading. Setting short bimonthly essays on books and articles which they would never normally come across on their course.

He felt confident that he didn’t need to reread the book, but he had enjoyed it the first time and saw no harm in brushing up on it. Better to be prepared than like some of his peers who had decided to use the allocated hours to slack off. Fitz had sacrificed a lot to be here at university and was not going to waste the opportunities he had.

***

“The poor boy! He just made the strangest noise. I felt so bad for him. He went bright red, I had to help the guy out.” Skye rambled on, in a hushed voice. “I think you'd like him, he's a nerd like you, he's reading some Hawking book and somehow even more socially awkward than you.” She joked.

“Come on, I'm way less awkward than I was a year ago.” Jemma answered slightly offended that her friend still saw her as socially inept.

“Well if this is you confident, I'd hate to have seen you when you first arrived.” Skye let out a giggle. 

“You know I think I've seen him around actually, he's always in the library. I don't think I've ever seen him with anyone though… kind of sad really. Can’t say that he seems that bothered by it though, maybe he likes his peace and quiet.” Jemma said, recognising the curly haired man across the room. A mischievous smile appeared on her friend’s face. “No!” Jemma said, instantly recognising the expression. “I don't know what you're thinking, but whenever you get that look on your face it gets us in trouble. How many times do I have to tell you that I don't like getting in trouble? There are rules for a reason Skye.” Jemma spluttered, looking nervous while the gears turned in Skye’s head.

“What? No! I do not always get us in trouble” Skye answered in mock denial. “Like once has that happened….” Jemma stared her down. “Okay twice, or maybe a few times. But that's not the point, all I was thinking is that we should go talk to the guy.”

“Skye leave him alone, he obviously gets nervous talking to people he doesn't know. Just from your encounter I can tell you that much. He probably likes to be alone so let him be. The last thing he needs is us pouncing on him.” And that was it. Skye let it go, although Jemma was uncertain how long lived that would be. Skye wasn’t the best at letting things go.

Skye and Jemma had met the year before at a New Year's party and the two had hit it off immediately. That might partially have been due to the alcohol Jemma had had in her system, boosting her confidence, but mostly because Skye was just so easy-going. They had both woken up in her room and had nursed their hangovers together. Unsure of how they'd ended up there, the girls had tried to retrace their steps of the evening, each of them remembering slightly different things. The investigation had been a bust and half the night was still a mystery a year later, but it had solidified their friendship.

The two girls conversation drifted back to catching up on their Christmas holidays. Jemma telling Skye about the fun she had had with her family in between the moments of tension. Jemma’s relationship with her family was strained at best. Skye on the other hand had no family other than that of her childhood best friend Trip whom she had visited for Christmas.

Glad to be reunited after the Christmas break, they spent most of the afternoon sipping tea and coffee in the small coffee shop. But Jemma couldn’t quite help herself from occasionally looking over to the curly haired boy Skye had told her about. There was just something about him...


	2. Day 3

There he was again, the curly haired boy from the coffee shop. He had his head in a book, sat in an armchair in the library. The armchair that just so happened to her favourite spot in the whole library. But she was an adult, mature enough to find another chair. A chair that had a view of said armchair so that the second he left she could reclaim it. _It's a really comfy chair_ she reasoned with herself. Unfortunately, he stayed put and she ended up sat in one of the least comfortable chairs in the whole library. She should ask the library to get some more ergonomic chairs, or get Skye to, the new librarian looked and acted like Roz from “Monsters Inc”. So that was definitely a job for Skye, she wouldn't mind ... too much… probably.

She had kept one eye on him for nearly the entire two hours that she had free and he never once moved from her beloved seat. She really should have been spending more energy on reading her textbook, not that the assignment was difficult; she just needed to do some wider reading on protein biogenesis to get the extra marks.

As 3 o'clock grew nearer Jemma began to pack up her things, still eyeing the young man who had stolen her chair. Just as she stood up, he raised his head from his book and closed it. _You have got to be kidding me. He leaves now!_ Jemma thought to herself. As she walked round the long wooden table separating her from her beloved chair, she realised they were going to end up walking out the library at the same time, which would lead to the age old issue of two people going through a door that was only wide enough for one. Would he hold back and let her through, or would he barge through, knocking the books out of her hands? Or would they do the awkward ‘no you go first’ dance? It occurred to her that maybe Skye did have a point about her still having some social anxiety after all.

After composing herself from almost tripping up over a redhead and her chair, who had suddenly pulled out from the table, she left the edge of the and headed for the door. The chair thief was just a few metres from the door that was going to cause all the problems. She was just starting to think about slowing down when she noticed he beaten her to it. They would now have a good metre between them when they got to the door. Opening the door, she walked through, holding it open for the man behind her and allowing him to pass by her. He quietly thanked her, with what sounded like a Scottish accent before skittering off towards the science block, which happened to be where Jemma was headed.

He reached the blocks door about three seconds before she did, he held it open with his hand and she responded with a “Thank you.

“No problem.” He then took a right down the corridor, Jemma followed him, both seemingly headed to the same place. The next set of doors came and again he held them for her, she thanked him again and he gave the same response. Another set of doors approached, Jemma thought she really needed to find another way of saying thank you.

“Cheers.” 

“You’re welcome”

The next door, “Merci.” Jemma instantly cringed at herself.

“Err… de rien?”

Turning left and seeing the long corridor full of doors ahead, Jemma decided to speak up. “This is getting ridiculous, why don't we just save the ‘thank you’s’ for the last door we come across? Otherwise, it's going to lose all meaning.”

“Okay.” He mumbled.

“I’m Jemma Simmons by the way.”

“Right… Umm, I’m Fitz. Leo Fitz. But just Fitz is fine.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m in my second year of Biochemistry. What about you?” Jemma asked, much happier now they had put the door issue behind them.

“Mechanical engineering. It’s my second year as well.”

“Oh that must be interesting. What are you studying at the moment?” Jemma said with excitement. Fitz looked at her quizzically for a second, seemingly judging if she was really interested. Jemma gave him an encouraging smile and Fitz’s expression slowly changed into one of enthusiasm as he launched into the details of his module.

Their pace slowed as they chatted and walked side by side, Jemma asking questions as Fitz told her more about his course.

“Eh…well this is me…” Fitz said as they reached the door to his workshop.

“Well thank you very much for holding the doors and for the wonderful conversation.”

“You're welcome.”

At that moment a huge man came walking through the corridor. Jemma had seen him at a few parties and new he was in his second year like herself but had never spoken to him or leant his name.

“Hey Turbo, wow, talking to a lady? Well, I'll leave you to it buddy.” He said with a smirk and a wink as he walked into the mechanical engineering workshop.

“Sorry about him…” Leopold Fitz said turning red.

“That’s okay.” She grinned. “My best friend is the same.” Fitz still looked rather embarrassed. “Well, I need to get going.” She said looking at her watch. “I’ll see you around Fitz. Oh and you stole my chair in the library.” She said with a lopsided grin as she turned to continue on down the corridor to her lab. _A mechanical engineer_ … she pondered, very pleased with herself for seemingly making him comfortable enough to actually talk to her. The more she found out about him the more he intrigued her. It looked that he did have at least one friend, so maybe he didn’t enjoy his peace and quiet as much as she had originally thought. Well, she was just going to have to find out, he was a mystery and obviously intelligent and she definitely wanted to know more.

***

Leaving her Computer Science lecture room Skye took out her phone to call Jemma. “Hey, you ready to eat, I'm just heading home now.”

“Already cooking, it'll be ready to dish up when you get here, oh and you owe me 15 quid for this week's meals.”

“Damn, I was hoping you'd forget that.” Skye said light-heartedly. “Alright I’ll see you back home in a few.”

Jemma's parents had kindly offered to pay for the flat that was a convenient ten-minute walk from the university campus. Jemma's parents were well off, so it wasn't too much of a sacrifice. They didn’t pay for everything though, the deal was that they'd pay the rent and the two of them cover everything else, including bills. The reason being that Jemma's parents didn't want her to spend too much time working that it impacted her studies. They wouldn't pay for anything else though as they wanted her to learn to budget and work for herself, but the rent in itself was a great weight off their shoulders. Jemma had then invited Skye to live with her as the flat had two bedrooms. The flat was a luxury that most students couldn’t afford. It was a nice sized flat with just the two of them meaning no noisy parties when they didn't want them and quiet time to study. As well as a place to crash mid-afternoon if they needed a nap. Although to be fair that was usually just Skye doing that, she had a habit of staying up late writing code and then needing a mid-afternoon nap. Jemma on the other hand was much more sensible with her routine.

Coming through the front door Skye saw Jemma opening up a bottle of cider for them each and setting them on the table. It was a good arrangement they had going, whoever got home first cooked dinner and then the other cleaned up. Jemma usually finished first which was best for everyone as she was the better cook, tonight however, it looked like she had prepared a lovely spaghetti bolognaises. “So how was your day?” Skye asked entering the cluttered kitchen. Jemma sure knew how to make a mess.

“Really good actually, do you remember Curly-Haired-Coffee-Shop-Boy?” Skye nodded, unsure where this was going. “Well he stole my seat in the library so I was just a little annoyed and I might have watched him the whole time I was in there just to make sure I could get my chair if he left.”

“As you do.” Skye remarked.

“Yeah… well anyway, we ended up leaving at the same time, and we were both going over to the science and engineering block and you know the super long corridor that has loads of doors in it?”

“Nope.” Jemma always seemed to forget Skye never went into that building, despite her course having ‘science’ in the title. Jemma seemed to have forgotten about the food, getting caught up in her story, so she walked across to the counter and started dishing up.

“Well it's like a two minute or so’s walk from end to end, that's partly because you have to keep stopping to open doors though. But anyway, we ended up going down there and I had to keep saying thank you every time he held the door open and he'd say no problem and it was getting rather ridiculous. So I said why don't we just wait ‘till we part ways and then I'll thank you for all the doors together. So we do that and then I decide to introduce myself and he does too, his names Fitz by the w-”

“Fitz? What kind of a name is that?” Skye asked whilst putting the plates on the table.

“He goes by his last name, anyway that's not the point. The point is one of the guys from his class made a comment about him talking to me and I realised that he had seemed to enjoy our short conversation. Which is making me think that maybe he's not such a recluse because he doesn't like people, I think it might be more that he's just intensely shy. So I have decided that I want to get to know this guy, he seems nice, he has to be smart if he's doing mechanical engineering here, that's got A*AA or something grade requirements. So yeah, I want to get to know him, he seems interesting.” Jemma went on as Skye sat down to eat.

“So, you think you were wrong when you said he likes his being alone? Are you, Jemma Simmons, admitting that you were wrong? Wow let me get my camera out, this is going in my scrapbook, oh and on Twitter.”

“Skye you're missing the point. Do you want to join me, this guy seems interesting?” Jemma asked as she sat down at the table.

“Yeah, just don't abandon me for some super genius okay?” Skye was only half joking.

“Come on Skye, I hope you know me better than that… Anyway, maybe we can help him with his social skills.” Jemma said with a grin, there was something about this boy that really excited her.

“Oh hon, no, Jemma, no no no no no, I don't think you should be helping anyone's social skills, I'm still not done with you. I can, however, take on a second student.”

“Whatever.” Jemma scowled. “We need to make this natural though, otherwise we'll scare him off. So, let's take it slow.”

“He's not a wild animal.” Skye laughed. “And here we have a wild Fitz roaming the library, they are easily spooked, and little is known about them.” She said in her best David Attenborough impression.

“You know what I mean.” Jemma kicked her leg under the table in mock annoyance. “If he's shy enough to have made it through a year and a bit of university with seemingly one friend in his class and no one else, well then we need to be gentle.”


	3. Day 4

Fitz kept his head down as he quietly walked to the library, making his way through the hordes of people. The quicker he got to the library the better. The library was nice and quiet unlike his house, which he shared with seven other guys, all friends of Mack (or at least friends of friends). He had been grateful when Mack had offered him a room and while he did still appreciate it, it could also be a rather unpleasant place. His housemates (aside from Mack) were loud and irritating at best and downright horrid at worst. However, he had to have somewhere to stay and Mack gave him a discount for all his help in the car repair shop he ran out of the garage. Mack also did his best to look out for Fitz as best he could.

Mack was the only person he bothered talking to in his class, the others were either too boisterous, rude, irritating or stupid (how some of the people had made it into his class he would never understand). Mack was calm, smart and rarely got on his nerves, although they didn't really talk outside of their classes or the garage much, he considered him to be a good friend. His only friend if he was being truthful. But that was fine, he told himself, he got by just fine on his own. No distractions from his goal. No one to get in his way.

Once in the library he saw Jemma and her friend from the coffee shop. The two seemed to be in the middle of a rather heated conversation. Not wanting to pry he ducked his head, and swiftly moved behind a bookshelf to avoid them. Curiosity overcame him though and he crept forward between the rows of bookshelves to hear what they were talking about.

“You never go out anymore Jemma! I know after what happened last time you're hesitant, but that's not going to happen again, you've learnt to be more observant and what's the likelihood of it happening twice?” The brunette questioned.

“Somebody spiked my drink Skye, that's not the sort of thing you get over quickly! If the bar tender hadn't noticed how I was acting who knows what would have happened. Why are you being so insensitive?” Jemma replied getting visibly upset. The situation was becoming clearer to Fitz, who was now starting to feel rather guilty for listening in. He started browsing through the books to at least appear innocent.

“I'm not trying to be insensitive, I just think it's time for you to get back out there. Otherwise, you're going to spend your entire life being scared to go out and have a drink. You're nineteen Jemma, you can't let this control your life.” The brunette, apparently called Skye, argued getting agitated.

“I'm not going and that's final, I'm not ready and so what if I don't go, not everyone goes out drinking. And I have work tonight anyway!”

“Yeah until ten, you could come out after, like you used to. All I’m saying is you work hard, you need to relax, and it’s a great way to do that. You used to agree.” Skye said, softening her tone. “It’s also a great way to meet people. You want to find someone, you need to get out, no one meets the love of their life at a bus stop anymore.”

“My love life is just fine!” Jemma hissed back.

“Look, I'm doing this for you, but if you're going to continue to be so stubborn then fine, whatever I don't care anymore.” Skye said walking out of the library.

“Skye! Come back h-” Jemma yelled before being silenced by the librarian, who Fitz privately referred to as Roz, due to her uncanny resemblance to the monster from ‘Monsters Inc’.

 _Well that was dramatic…_ Fitz was about to turn around and start studying, but had a change of heart at the sight of a tear role down Jemma's cheek. With a sudden newfound confidence, he moved out from the safety of the shelves and shuffled up to the crying woman. She was now looking at the floor, trying to hide her tears from the other students in the library.

“Are ummm... are you okay?” Fitz asked nervously, taking her by surprise. “Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.” Jemma looked dumbfound. Evidently, he was the last person she had expected to see.

“I'm fine.” she said wiping away her tears. “I just got a little carried away, I'm sorry, please excuse me.” Before Fitz knew it, she was hurrying past him towards the door. _Well that went well… first time trying to comfort someone and they run from the room before you've got three bloody sentences out_. Discouraged and in no hurry to attempt that again he headed over to the engineering section of the library.

***

Jemma Simmons stood behind the reception desk at the depressing hotel where she worked. Everything about the place was cheap and disgusting, from the reception desk, to the curtains, to the mugs. It had however taught Jemma a vital lesson about the world of work, don't accept a job just because a friend works there, and it means that you can start straight away without an interview. It was a mistake and now she was stuck, unsure how to leave without seeming ungrateful to her friend who'd got her the job.

She was in the middle of going about her admin duties when she heard the front door open. _Damn, couldn't have waited just another ten minutes for me to be off the clock._ Hoping it was a polite customer, still in a bad mood after her argument with Skye, she lifted her head.

It was Fitz. It was 9:50pm on a friday and Leo Fitz was walking into the cheapest hotel in the city. A look of horror covered his face when he saw her, followed by a deep shade of red. “Hi… may I ask why exactly you're here?” Jemma greeted him in confusion. Surely he hadn’t followed her…

“I need a room.” He said plainly, clearly hoping he wouldn't have to explain his situation. “I hope you’re feeling better…” He ventured.

“I’m fine.” She lied, Skye had called her to apologise before her shift had started but the conversation had still brought back bad memories. “And why exactly do you need a room?” Jemma asked, wrinkling her brow.

“Ummm… well this is embarrassing.” He mumbled, fidgeting with his hands and looking at the floor. “I don't have a room for tonight… my housemate, Grant... is... errr... borrowing it."

“Why, what's wrong with his room?” Her brow furrowing more as she tried to piece together what he was telling her.

“Nothing, he just… he has… ugh… h-he's got company for the night and my room is the furthest away… a-and well he… he doesn’t want to have to worry about the noise … so…” He trailed off his ears and cheeks getting redder with each word.

“He wants to have noisy sex in your room? "hy would you let him do that?” Jemma asked rather mortified.

“You haven't seen the guy, he's big and scary and he didn't give me much choice… wouldn’t even let me use his room either.” He said with a small self deprecating huff. “He gave me £5 though…” Fitz said as he waved the note in front of him, desperately trying to find a positive angle on the situation.

“How awful. And thats not enought even for this pigsty. Not fair at all.” Jemma felt a wave of sympathy for the poor Scot stood across the desk from her. Suddenly a crazy notion started to form in her mind. There was just something so intriguing about Fitz, she couldn’t help herself. “You know, I have an idea that'll save you renting a room in this house of crap…” 

Fitz raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“I have a futon, which is at least as comfortable as the beds here. It’s all yours if you want it?” Jemma couldn’t quite believe the words coming out of her mouth. She worried her bottom lip, unsure of how he’d respond. After all, they had only ever had two short conversations before, this one making three. Fitz looked around the dingy hotel, clearly weighing up his options.

“Uhhh… ok, yeah.” Fitz said, looking as surprised with himself as she felt. Jemma had the thought that tonight could go one of two ways, either they’d become great friend’s, or she’d be found dead in a ditch somewhere… Quickly pushing the latter out of her mind she smiled a reassuring smile at him.

“Ok, let me close up here and find Elena, so she can take over for me. And then we’ll be off.” Despite the stupidity of what she was doing she couldn’t help but feel rather giddy. What would her parents say if they knew? And more importantly, what would Skye say?


	4. Day 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!

Jemma opened her bedroom door and was greeted with the unfamiliar sight of the futon opened up and Fitz sprawled across it. He lay on his chest, one arm haphazardly draped over the cushion above his head, the other hanging off the futon, fingers grazing the floor. Half his face was squished against the cushion and his forehead was covered in unkempt curls. The blanket was wrapped around his legs, just a corner covering the base of his back. Despite it being January Fitz had evidently overheated and removed his shirt, leaving Jemma with a view of his bare back. Unsure quite what to do about the half-naked man in her lounge, she crept past and entered the kitchen to make herself some tea.

As the kettle boiled Jemma thought about how bizarre the situation was, a man she barely knew was lying asleep in her living room because his housemate had bullied him into giving up his room so that he could have loud sex in it.

She took out two mugs and placed them on the counter, assuming he would want tea or coffee when he woke. Jemma stirred her tea as she watched him sleep, trying to decide whether to try to wake him up, or let him sleep and just get herself ready. In the end she decided to get on with her morning routine, the shower was noisy enough that it would probably wake him anyway, so she drank her tea at the table and let him be. Hopefully, he would be awake by the time she had finished getting ready.

She wrote him a note and headed to the shower. It was only after she had the shampoo in her hair that she realised she had forgotten to bring in a change of clothes and was going to have to go out in her towel. _Great_ …

***

Fitz slowly opened his eyes, struggling to grow accustomed to the amount of light in the unfamiliar room. Remembering the events of the night before, he slowly stood up and ran his hand through his hair, assessing his surroundings. Someone was in the shower, presumably Jemma as she had said her flatmate, Skye, was most likely not going to be coming home until the late morning and his watch read 8:39am. He looked at the two bedroom doors, they were both closed, so either Jemma had closed Skye's door this morning or she had in fact snuck in late in the night and gone to bed. Either was possible, he was a heavy sleeper and most likely wouldn't have noticed Skye coming in.

On the coffee table, between the futon and the TV, a note had been placed. Fitz picked it up and read it. "Good morning Fitz, I hope you slept well. I wasn't sure if I should wake you or not so I let you be. But the kettles boiled, and I left you a mug so help yourself, if you want breakfast there's cereal in the cupboard next to the oven. I won't be long getting ready, but if you need to rush off I won't be offended. Jemma." He was tempted just to get dressed and leg it out the door as fast as he could. The whole situation was overwhelming for him. A part of him wanted nothing more than to spend the day in the garage and tinker with the car Mack was fixing up (Fitz could totally make some big improvements to the engine efficiency if only Mack would let him).

Instead, summoning all the courage he could muster, he walked into the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee and poured a bowl of Frosties, and settled into the table tucked up in the corner of the kitchen.

Last night something magical had happened, he'd found someone of equal intellect (maybe, just maybe, greater). They'd talked until gone midnight about their respective courses, their interests and the latest scientific discoveries. They would have kept talking for hours if they hadn't both been so tired. He desperately wanted to continue their conversation on her studies on dendrotoxins and was eagerly awaiting her appearance so that they could continue their discussion.

He was packing up the futon when he heard the bathroom door open. It was now that he became aware that he was still in just his boxers and bent over folding up the bed. He quickly stood up and turned around, desperately trying to stop the red flush that was creeping into his cheeks. Satisfied that he'd fought off the redness he looked up from the floor. In front of him stood a towel covered Jemma. Both of them in compromising attire, his initial excitement to talk science diminished and his anxiety overcame him. “Morning…” Jemma smiled, going red herself. Fitz looked down again and nodded. _This is bad, this is very very bad._

“Ummm, I'm just going to put on my shirt now…” He mumbled becoming more and more aware of his body. He'd always been embarrassed by his physical immaturity, he had the ‘body of a 12 year old’ as Grant so kindly put it. “I just get hot easily, used to the weather in Scotland and all...” He muttered. He was bent over about to grab his shirt when Skye's door opened. She was the last person he wanted to see when in just his boxers.

For the second time that morning he was greeting a woman with his arse. He shot round, forgetting to pick up his shirt and looked at her, his face red yet again. Dishevelled hair, makeup clear face, and midriff showing where her vest didn't quite meet her pyjama bottoms, Fitz realised that he definitely had a crush, a big fat crush on the woman standing in front of him. _This is worse, this is so much worse than it was a minute ago._ His jaw slacked slightly before he swallowed and returned to getting his blue plaid shirt. He yanked it over his head and buttoned up the top two buttons, the only ones he ever bothered to undo.

“Wow, Jemma Simmons, look at you, seems like you managed to have a wild night anyway.” Skye crudely greeted them with a smile. Fitz gave a small shake of the head, unable to understand how exactly he had managed to get himself into this situation.

“I'm going to get dressed, but this really isn't what it looks like, Fitz can explain whilst I get ready.” Jemma countered as she walked across the room to get changed. “I didn't expect you home, your night unsuccessful?” Jemma asked in her doorway.

“Quite the opposite, I just wanted a night out with some friends, I wasn’t looking for a guy.” Skye said pointedly at Jemma as she reached for the kettle. Jemma nodded, hiding a small scoff and closed her door to get changed. Fitz guessed that their fight wasn't 100 percent resolved based on the slightly tense conversation. “So, Fitz come on, put your pants on and tell me what happened with you two?” Fitz gave her a confused look as he looked down at his underwear. “Trousers, I meant trousers, but nice underpants.” Skye said with a smirk as Fitz pulled on his jeans. _This is not happening…_

***

The trio were gathered round the table eating lunch and chatting. The talk mostly came from Skye and Jemma as Fitz still looked rather nervous, but he was certainly calmer than when Skye had found him in his boxers earlier. Half the time she couldn't understand what he was saying anyway, his Scottish accent was a little too thick and mixed with his nervous mumble she had to really concentrate. She did however try to keep him engaged in their conversation. He perked up a bit when she told him about her course and the most recent program she'd written. The guy was funny too, which surprised her, once he got more confident, he allowed more of his personality to spill out. As surprised and slightly worried as she had been when Jemma texted her after midnight saying that they had a guest, she was glad she had been given the opportunity to get to know the Scot. She could understand why Jemma was so fascinated with him, he was like her science soulmate.

It was gone 2:00pm when Fitz looked at his watch and said he needed to leave, Jemma was visibly disappointed as they had just starter babbling science nonsense again. Skye insisted that they exchanged numbers, taking his phone and adding both their numbers before sending them each a text. The contact list was rather empty, just his Mum, Mack, a list of numbers which she assumed were the room numbers of his housemates, and his manager. Judging by the anxious look on his face this was a sensitive subject, so she swallowed the joke already formulating on her tongue.

“I hope we see you soon Fitz, maybe next time you can even grace us with wearing clothes.” Skye laughed as she hugged the suddenly rigid boy.

“Leave him alone Skye.” Jemma playfully swatted her. “It was great getting to know you, maybe you can come by the lab at some point and I can show you more on my project.” Jemma's bright smile was contagious and Fitz momentarily relaxed. Jemma decided not to go in for a hug, presumably after having seen his reaction to Skye's attempt.

“Yeah, that would be good, I'd like that. Ummm… I best be gone, so... bye.” And with an awkward smile he turned around and quickly moved down the corridor.


	5. Day 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tomorrow will be the last of the daily updates as I go back to work next week. So it'll probably be once a week or so after that. I hope you're enjoying the fic so far.

Jemma was sat on her chair in the library, reading a biology journal when she saw a figure standing in front of her. Looking over her journal she saw Fitz, awkwardly hovering five feet in front of her, this was the third impromptu library meeting since Saturday. “Hey, you know you can come up to me and say hi, you don't have to hover until I notice you every time.” She said with a smile.

“Oh, sorry, I just didn't want to interrupt your reading. How are you?”

“I'm okay, and it's just a journal, you can interrupt, I mean if I were watching say... Doctor Who, then I might hit you, but this is just an article.” She said with a wide grin.

“I wouldn't dream of interrupting you during Doctor Who, what kind of monster would do that?”

“The Daleks, they'd totally cut the power off too.” Fitz nodded in agreement as Jemma placed her journal down on her lap, the article catching Fitz's eye.

“Ooh monkeys! What's it about?” Fitz asked eagerly. Jemma chuckled softly at Fitz's excitement before telling him about the article and the research going into the apparent correlation of howler monkey’s loudness and their sperm count. “Poor howler monkeys, the quiet guys have got all the good stuff, but the females aren't interested because they aren't making a loud enough racket.” Jemma raised her eyebrow at Fitz’ comment. “Did you know that there are 15 different types of howler monkey, my personal favourite is the Purus Red Howler, they're just such a bright reddish orange. I mean they're all quite similar, but if you know what you're looking for you can identify them, for some it’s basically where they live, they evolved ever so slightly differently, others it's more obvious, for example some have black fur.”

“Bit of a monkey nerd are we?” Jemma smiled. “And no I didn't know any of that.”

“And you call yourself a biologist?” Fitz smirked. Jemma poked her tongue out. “You ever been to Monkey World? I always watched the program on it, Monkey Life, I was never able to go though. It being in Dorset and all, bit of a distance from Glasgow.”

“Yeah, I went when I was about seven, I think, it was good. You know there's nothing stopping you going now, it's a lot closer from here.”

“Moneys stopping me, I can't afford the journey, I barely cover my costs as it is… but I guess one day I'll get there, although a lone man at that kind of place probably looks super suspicious.” He joked.

“How about we go together this summer, after exams?” Jemma suggested. It was awfully unlike her to make such distant plans, especially with someone she'd just met, but she couldn't help herself. “I'll drive and then all you've got to do is save up a little bit to get the ticket, they can't be much more than a tenner with a student discount. And we can have a pack lunch.”

“That would be awesome.” Fitz beamed. “What about you? Where, where did you always want to go but never have?” Fitz asked hesitantly.

“Umm, I'm not sure, I've got to be honest, I was rather spoilt as a child and there aren't many things I didn't get to do. I guess the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, just to see it, you know, it would be nice to just take it all in.” Jemma replied softly.

“Yeah that would be a cool place to go, I think just the size of it compared to what we have here would be breath taking. I'm afraid I'm not going to suggest we take a trip this summer to the Smithsonian.” He smirked.

“Really? Why ever not?” Jemma replied deadpan. The two of them giggled before being shushed by the librarian for being too loud. “I think we just became library rebels.” Jemma whispered holding back a laugh.

“You're a bad influence on me Miss Simmons.” Fitz said with a disappointed stare.

“Oh shut it.” Jemma nudged him. “I was the one happily reading my article, you started this.”

“Well... that is true… It's still your fault.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so.” Fitz said with a grin.

“Oh sure, yeah, no, that's not going to work on me, this is definitely your fault.” Jemma grinned back. “Do you realise we seem to be getting less and less work done each time this happens?”

“Yeah… We might want to work on that…Well budge up.” A brief look of panic appeared on Fitz’ face but disappeared as soon as she complied and made room for him on the armchair. Fitz squashed in next to her and grabbed the journal off of her with a cheeky grin.

Squished together on the armchair they went through the most interesting articles in the journal. Jemma could hardly believe this was the same shy man she had met in the corridor the previous week. Once he got talking about science it was nearly impossible to shut him up. Jemma felt herself smile, with Fitz squeezed up against her and a scientific journal in hand she couldn’t remember a time when she had had such a stimulating conversation.

“You see, all biology can be explained by chemistry and all of chemistry can be explained by physics. Therefore, why waste your time on such a tiny insignificant part of science when there's all of physics.” Fitz said with a mischievous grin, deliberately egging her on, knowing she would not take the slight on her chosen subject.

“That's rubbish, what about doctors and pharmaceutical scientist? And then if you say that they're important which I'm going to assume you're intelligent enough to know, then you must realise that all the other jobs are there to support them and build upon them, without research you can't make the medicines or give the mechanical engineers, like you, the specs for say a prosthetic and then yo-”

“Ok, yeah, you have a point there, but you can't say that biology is more interesting, physics covers literally everything. Yeah, your biochem stuff is cool, but come on the LHC! We can learn so much from that, new particles have been discovered, we're learning more about the origins of the unive-”

“Yes that is interesting, but who is it helping? Biochemistry however, it helps people directly. Look at stem cells, in time we will be able to grow whole organs! Isn't that amazing, one day people won't need prosthetics, they'll be able to have a new limb grown, I mean they might need a prosthetic whilst its growing, the logistics need to be sorted out, but still, it's a possibility.”

This caused Fitz to launch into a speech on how the LHC would change the future of science and its uses were endless. Jemma didn’t actually have anything against the LHC and also found it very interesting, but it was fun winding Fitz up and hearing him talk about something he was so passionate about. His arms waved around enthusiastically as he acted out how the particle accelerator worked, and he puffed out his cheeks when making an explosion noise which she found rather adorable. All in all, she couldn’t have been happier to have Fitz come and distract her from her reading.

“You know for a mechanic you sure love the LHC.”

“First of all, not a mechanic, I’m an engineer, second, if I were a particle physicist or any other kind of physicist then, I wouldn't be able to build stuff, that's what I love, designing and building, I can still have a healthy interest in the rest of physics. Maybe my course makes me specialise, but thanks to the internet and sneaking into other lectures I can still learn about the rest.”

Jemma couldn’t help but notice the intense look he got in his eye as he spoke to her and her heartbeat sped up. There was just something about him, she felt like they were two magnets, compelled to be together.

“Good answer, but I'd just like to point out, I've never snuck into a lecture that wasn't for me. Therefore, you are in fact the bad influence. My parents would be so disappointed.” Jemma laughed gently. “How'd you manage to sneak in any way, surely someone would notice?”

“Nope, I have the gift of invisibility, unless you're looking for me no one sees me...” He said with a slightly sad smile.

“You do manage to blend in and not draw attention to yourself, I'll give you that.”

“I've had years of practicing, I'm pretty sure I came out of the womb wearing the cloak of invisibility.”

“That would make delivery difficult…” Jemma mused. Fitz nudged her and gave her a ‘don't take what I say so seriously’ look, to which she rolled her eyes. “You need to get a better grip on when I'm being sarcastic.” Jemma joked. Jemma shuffled in the armchair, causing Fitz to make an odd squeal, once again getting a “Sshhh!” from the librarian.

“Don't laugh, you pinched me somehow. It hurt.” Fitz pouted.

“You know I think we might be a little big for sharing chairs.” Jemma said, worming her way out of the armchair.

“Really? I thought it was just fine.” Fitz said, sprawling out and taking up as much room as possible, the second she wriggled her way off of the chair.

“So he does know sarcasm?” Jemma teased, and laughed at the grumpy stare he gave her. “You really are just a grumpy Scot, aren't you?”

“Way to stereotype.”

“Well don't be one then.” Jemma retorted.

“Ouch, I'd like to think I'm slightly more three dimensional.” Fitz said, feigning hurt feelings. Just as they both started to giggle again an angry figure approached them.

“Are you two here to study or chat? Because this is not the place for the latter, I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you can't be quiet!” The librarian scolded. The two exchanged a guilty look and quickly hurried out, muttering apologies.

“Did we just get kicked out of the library?” Jemma asked unsure if she thought it was funny or horrifying.

“Yeah, I think so, we really are library rebels, who'd have thought?” He grinned at her.


	6. Day 13

“No! Don't touch that!” Fitz yelled across the workshop as yet another of his peers played with his project.

“I was just looking mate, calm down, no need to get angry.” The bull-headed ginger, whose name Fitz hadn't bothered to learn, moaned.

Everyone was now staring at him, waiting to see if he'd say anymore. Intimidated by all the eyes on him he backed down and continued delving through the draw. “Yeah, well maybe next time look with your eyes and not your hands.” Fitz muttered under his breath. After having found the piece he was looking for, he went back to his bench and continued to work on his prototype. He was counting down the minutes until the allotted hour ended; most of them would leave for the evening and he would be left to work in peace.

“Hey Fitz!” _Skye?_ He heard over his shoulder. “Whatcha working on?” He turned around to find both Skye and Jemma inches from his face. He took a step to back to give himself a bit more space before turning to pick up his sketches. He handed them over to Skye and returned to his work. It only took Skye a minute to break the new found silence. “I don't understand much of this, you're going to have to explain some of it.”

“Can you give me just one minute?” Fitz asked quietly, not wanting to draw more attention to himself than the two women's presence already had.

“Sure.” Jemma responded before being approached by the annoying ginger.

“What can I help you with ladies? I don't think you wanna be hanging out with this one, he doesn't talk much and when he does, it's just to shout at you. He's a weirdo.” Even after years of bullying at school his words still hurt.

“Piss off, we're not here to talk to you.” Skye answered curtly. The guy scoffed and gave them the middle finger before walking back to his bench. Fitz was sure he would pay for that one later. As he finished up and wiped his hands on his overalls he heard Skye squeal. “What does this do?” She asked picking up his other project.

“That, is nothing.” Fitz answered, jaw clenched, taking the device off of her. Upon seeing Skye's disappointment his temper mellowed. “It's just a little thing I've been working on in my spare time, it's a pen.”

“Are you sure?” Skye said, looking at the divice in his hands.

“ For my Mum, she… umm… she's not, she… errr… she has Par-Parkinson's… so I wanted to make her an anti-tremor pen. But I've hit a bump.”

“Can't make it small enough?” Jemma ventured, holding out her hand to examine the oversized pen.

“Yeah, it's based on how chickens keep their heads still, despite moving their bodies, I'm sure you'll be glad to know that was my inspiration.”

“Points to biology.” Jemma smiled softly. “I'm sorry about your Mum… that must be difficult, is she still in Glasgow?” Fitz nodded. Skye stroked his arm affectionately, evidently she'd remembered how he’d frozen up last time she’d hugged him. It wasn’t so much the hug that had been the problem though, just the sudden movement and contact that had put him on edge. “So what are you working on for class?” Jemma asked, guessing correctly that he wanted to change the subject.

“It's a drone, or at least it would be if it worked, in theory it works, I just need to figure a few more things out, and try to get some better resources, which is hard. I might have bitten off more than I can chew, I don't know... If it fails I'll just do something with an engine, but I want to keep trying with this for a bit longer. The idea is that it's small and agile enough to get into most places but also quiet enough to go unnoticed. But then I also want it to be recording all this information at the same time. But I can't get it to be small enough whilst meeting my specification and the noise side isn't working because they won't give me the right resorurces. And there’s some other issues that I won't bore you with.”

“Why not make more? Have them each record different things?” Jemma ventured.

“That's… That could work actually…I mean I wouldn't be able to build more than one, but that could work. Thank you.” Fitz smiled, feeling a little less stressed.

“If you want some programs written for it I can be of service there, I'm bored out of my mind at the moment. I could write out the flight paths, you'd need to show me the controller so I can match it up, but the program itself would be fairly easy for me.” Skye offered.

“That would be awesome, and I'm thinking about having an app, so it can all be run off a tablet.” Fitz answered, talking with increased energy as he grew more comfortable. “That way I can give it the directions whilst seeing all the data, and I'll have a live camera feed obviously. I'm thinking about having an automatic mode, so they could all just scan the room without any real direction from the user.”

“Sounds good to me, just let me know when you're ready for a program and what exactly you want and I'll sort it all out, I can make the app for you too if you want?” Skye's enthusiasm almost made him forget this was the woman who had seen him in his boxers just over a week ago. He was certainly getting better at spending time with her, he was gaining confidence and his crush was slowly dwindling. Although he found her attractive, he didn't think he felt any romantic feelings towards her. She was definitely never going to be more than a friend anyway, he knew she could do a lot better than him. It also helped that Jemma was always around when Skye was, she also took his breath away, but for different reasons. Every day he grew more amazed by her and her knowledge. She was special, he knew that, she was the kind of person his mother had told him about.

“One day Leo, you'll meet someone who completes you; they might be a friend, or they might be something more. You'll know it when you see them. That they are something you don't ever want to lose. So hold tight, and don't waste time because you never know how long you have with someone. And this person will be worth dropping everything for. Don’t end up with the wrong person because you’re not brave enough to fight for what you want.” She had warned him. At the time he wasn’t sure he believed her, wasn’t sure there was a person out there to complete him. But he knew she was talking about his dad in the last part.

His dad had left when he was ten, which had been a relief to some degree. It meant the house was quiet. He didn’t have to live in fear of his dad coming home drunk, be told over and over again how weird he was, how stupid he was. But it also meant his mother had to work extra hard to keep the house, pick up every shift available to her. And then, because life hadn’t been difficult enough, he turned eleven years old and went off to secondary school and that was when the bullying had escalated.

Before it was just name calling and shoving. They'd call him a freak when he took apart the clock and put it back together when he got bored or call him a weirdo for reading at lunchtime. But at eleven years old it took a different turn. The names they called him got worse as their vocabularies grew and as they got bigger the punches hurt more. And then there was puberty. All the other boys started to become men at 13, he however, was still small and childlike, yet another reason for their teasing. At 17 he finally grew, although he was still below average height and he still had a very young face. His shyness towards girls, meant that he was the only person in his secondary school to finish school without ever having a relationship. This led to the rumour that he was gay, leading to more name calling. His experience with people up until university had been terrible, he had learnt how to get by without friends, his last real friend having been from when he was seven. He had long ago lost faith in the idea of friendship, let alone finding his other half.

But here he was, chatting with his two friends and telling them about his project. And he found himself believing his mother's words, if anyone was his other half it was Jemma Simmons. In the short time he'd known her, he'd found himself believing it more and more. He finally felt accepted, and that, was something he'd never felt before.


	7. Day 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning - This chapter has a small mention of past abuse and alcoholism.
> 
> This chapter also has some pop culture references that kinda date the fic to when I originally wrote it in 2015. I've kept them in because it's fairly central to the chapter but just a little reminder that this is technically set in 2015.

“I still cannot believe you’ve never seen it! What are you doing with your life?” Skye exclaimed, jumping about, excited to be able to share her favourite TV show with Fitz.

“Studying.” Fitz replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Well, you need to get your head out of your books and Mack’s cars and watch TV shows other than Doctor Who. It’s got the same writer and everything, I don’t understand how you haven’t branched out and watched it. There are literally nine episodes, that’s it!” Skye rambled, unable to contain her disappointment in him as she put the Sherlock DVD into the player.

“I’ve got to admit, I’d pegged you for more of a TV nerd than you are.” Jemma agreed as Skye jumped onto the end of the two-seater futon that the three of them were now squished on.

“I’ve always been more of a film person, I can’t cope with the constant cliff hangers all the time, plus its too much to keep up with every week. TV shows consume too much time to watch more than a couple.” Fitz explained, causing Skye to laugh. “What?”

“Sorry, it’s just the irony of the fact that Sherlock has been running since 2010 and we have nine episodes. Also Jemma and I think we should call it a night after season two.” Skye said already enjoying the fact that the huge cliff hanger would drive him nuts.

“Yeah, maybe we won’t even bother with season three, I mean really there’s no point in watching it.” Jemma snickered as the theme tune began to play on the title selection page.

“I feel like I'm missing a joke here, if you guys are going to be mean about it, I'll just leave.” Fitz said leaning forward as if to stand up. Both girls immediately grabbed his arms to pull him back. “Can we just start it now?” Fitz asked, picking up his beer from the coffee table. Skye nodded her head and pressed play and eagerly watched his face. Noticing this, Fitz took the remote from her hands and paused the TV. “If you plan on staring at me the whole time this isn't going to happen.”

“But the best part is seeing you react to all the different bits, we know it so well we don't need to watch the screen.” Jemma chimed in stealing the remote and pressing play.

“Not okay. You guys are not allo-”

“Shhhh!” Both of them cut him off. Skye, confident that he was getting better with physical contact, positioned a cushion behind her, against the wooden arm of the futon and put her back to it, laying her legs over Fitz. This way she could watch his reactions throughout the episode. Fitz turned his head to give her a look of mild annoyance, but she simply pushed his face back to face the TV.

They were fifteen minutes in when Jemma's phone went off, causing both Fitz and Skye to groan. Jemma paused it and apologised saying it was her dad and she had to take it. She mouthed ‘five minutes’ as she went into her room and closed the door. “That'll be his check up call. He's… ummm how do I put this nicely… he likes to know she's working hard. But in a slightly more extreme, I'll disown you if you don't get the best mark in everything, kind of way.” A look of horror covered Fitz's face. “Ok, that was a slight exaggeration, I don't know what he'd do if she didn't do well, but it wouldn't be good. Jemma loves her work so she works hard, but I'm not sure if she would work as hard as she does if she wasn't so scared of disappointing her dad.”

“That sounds horrible…”

“He's nice, he just has very high expectations and he wants the best for her, it comes from a place of love at least. But yeah it's not great for her. I think the real drama will be when she brings a boyfriend home to them, he'll most likely get ripped to shreds. But so far no one's been able to keep her interested, it's not like she doesn't have offers, they're all just… well… not academically compatible. That's why she likes you so much, you can keep up with her, which is a rare quality. She doesn't share her research with just anyone you know?” It was then that a small seed was planted in her brain - they would make the perfect couple. He was cute, they got on amazingly and he was a genius too.They were both too socially stupid to realise that they were perfect for each other, and if Fitz was attracted to her he was never going to act on it, the boy was far too awkward for that. Therefore, Skye needed to lay some groundwork, get them to start thinking about the other romantically. She wasn't going to force anything, just nudge them in the right direction and hope they got there themselves.

“What's that look for?” Fitz asked looking puzzled. If Jemma had been there, she'd have known straight away she was planning something, but luckily it was Fitz who was still a long way off of being able to read anything above the most basic of body language.

“Oh nothing, I just went off into my own little world.” He didn't look like he quite bought it, but he let it slide. “So what about your dad? What's he like?” Skye asked, trying to go back to the conversation they'd been having.

“He uhh… He left… when I was ten. Was for the best though, he was a mean old drunk.” Fitz answered, shifting uncomfortably, looking at his hands and picking at his nails.

“Shit... sorry. Do you have any contact still?” Skye asked.

“Nope, could be dead for all I know, not unlikely given how much he drank.” Fitz said, clearly trying his best to seem indifferent. “Would be nice to have someone to help with Mum though, not him though obviously. But I think there was someone she loved before him, but I don’t know what happened, she was always very vague. It’s just a lot to deal with on my own is all. But we’re getting though it I guess.” Fitz said, the sadness he was clearly trying to cover up seeping through. Skye couldn’t help but wrap him up in a hug.

“I know you don't like hugs, but you are going to accept this one and you will find comfort in it.” Skye ordered, trying to cheer him up.

“It’s not hugs that are the problem…” Fitz mumbled. Skye raised an eyebrow in confusion. Then the pieces started to connect in her head. His father was a mean drunk and Fitz often flinched at sudden movements. Had Fitz’ father been violent? As Skye turned the idea around in her head, Fitz continued to look down at his lap, one hand raising to scratch the back of his head and neck. Clearly he didn’t want to share anything more and Skye wasn’t going to press him.

“One of my foster dad’s was a drunk, he would get really angry at the slightest thing. I’d end up just hiding in my room, waiting for him to pass out. I wasn’t there long but it was awful.” Skye shared. “I know that’s not the same as living with it for ten years, but if you need someone to talk to about it, someone who kinda gets it, well then I’m here.” Skye offered, slowly extending her hand to give him a gentle arm rub. Fitz looked up and gave her a soft and appreciative nod. After a few moments of silent Skye raised her beer bottle. “To crappy childhoods.” Skye toasted, clinking their bottles together, causing them both to let out a soft chuckle. “Well, we sure put a damper on the mood.”

“Jemma’s going to be rather confused when she's done on the phone, she left us all smiles and now we're depressed.” Fitz said with a small laugh, Skye was glad he too could see the irony of their fun evening going south in the brief few minutes that Jemma was gone from the room. At that moment Jemma's door opened, as she walked through the door she sighed loudly, visibly irritated after her phone call.

“Just for once it would be nice if he could just call for a catch up and not an hour by hour run down on my studies.” She huffed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring the mood down.” The two of them let out a small laugh, leaving Jemma puzzled, but instead of questioning it she simply pressed play. As she sunk back into the futon, she rested her head on Fitz’s shoulder, he in turn dropped his head onto hers. _Oh they definitely like each other, they’re just too blind to realise it._ As the gears turned in Skye’s head, she all but forgot about the TV show playing in front of her, instead of watching Fitz’s reactions to the episodes, she was watching his interactions with her best friend, growing more and more certain of her conclusion.


	8. Day 21

The coffee shop was unusually full for a Monday. Normally the bustling crowd and constant background noise would bother Fitz, but today he was too captivated by Jemma to notice. She was talking about her latest lecture on proteins. Although Fitz was finding it fascinating, he could tell that Skye was feeling a little left behind. Fitz could discuss Jemma's work for the rest of the afternoon but for poor Skye’s benefit he thought it would be best if they changed the topic as soon as possible.

“So, when the hell are you guys going to let me watch season three of Sherlock? This is just cruel!” Fitz segued, instantly getting Skye's attention.

“It's been three days! We waited two whole years. You don't understand the pain at all!” Skye exclaimed, waving her hands about wildly whilst holding up two fingers.

“Yes exactly, you know that it's not fun waiting, therefore, you should want to put me out of my misery as soon as possible.” Fitz argued.

“Ohhhh quite the opposite, we want you to suffer like we did.” Jemma cut in. “This is our reward for having waited so long, getting to watch others squirm whilst we know the real answer.”

“That is just sadistic, I never pegged you for that.” Fitz said with a mock frown. “You are aware I have Wi-Fi at home and I'm very capable of watching it on my own.” Fitz countered smugly, taking a sip of his tea.

“Yes, but you haven't done so yet and you won't because you know how mad we'll be. And, you're scared to see what happens when you piss us off, quite rightly might I add. Skye will rip you to pieces if you watch it behind our backs.” Jemma argued.

“Please guys!” Fitz whined. “Please let me watch it, you aren't seriously going to make me wait two years are you?”

“Hmm… I don't know, when the time is right, we'll know.” Jemma answered, warming her hands with her mug.

“The stars are not in position for this tribute.” Skye said in a slow deep voice, pointing at the sky.

“Like she says. Stars. Can't do it. Not today.” Jemma answered in a deep voice also. Skye shook her head, to add to the dramatics of whatever they were referencing. Fitz looked at them in confusion.

“‘The Road to El Dorado’ dummy.” Skye informed him.

“Really? ‘El Dorado’? That's your go to movie quote?”

“Look, if you don't understand the cinematic genius that is ‘The Road to El Dorado’ then I don't think we can be friends.” Skye said getting up and leaving the table for effect. Fitz had expected her to sit back down but instead she committed to her bit and took the opportunity to head to the toilets.

“You realise you're Altvio, right?” Jemma said once Skye had gone through the toilet door. “The horse.” Jemma explained with a grin, after seeing Fitz's face scrunch up in confusion.

“Lucky me… I guess this is a film I'm going to have to re-watch to please you both?” Jemma nodded multiple times with wide eyes and a huge smile. Fitz sighed in defeat. “It's a good film, but not one I'd quote or anything.”

“You're just not watching it right, you've got to really experience the film in all its glory.” Jemma said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“So, you mean with a few beers in my system?”

“Not necessarily, but it helps.” Jemma replied cheerily, before picking up her mug to have a drink.

“I think I'm going to make a list of all the films that I want you to watch, it's not fair that this is a one-sided arrangement. What about ‘Trainspotting’, have you seen that?”

“Yup, love me some Ewan McGregor.” Jemma smiled, seeming to get lost in her imagination.

“He’s playing a drug addict?”

Jemma rolled her eyes. “Well not specifically in that but just Ewan McGregor in general. Also Johnny Lee Miller. Both excellent specimens. You know if you’re related to Ewan and haven’t told me this whole time I’ll be pissed.” 

“What is happening…” Fitz said to himself before noticing the distant gaze that had overcome Jemma. “All right, let's bring you back, he's not that good looking…”

“Who’s not?” Skye asked, re-joining the table.

“Ewan McGregor.” Fitz answered.

“Mmm the things I’d let him do to me.” Skye answered almost in a whisper, she too getting caught up in her daydream. Fitz could feel the flush traveling up his face, the tips of his ears warming.

“Evidently I've started something here…” Fitz said to himself.

“What about in ‘Moulin Rouge!’, the singing?” Jemma added, Skye let out a sigh of agreement as she closed her eyes.

“Ok this needs to stop, you're making me uncomfortable.” Fitz pleaded.

“Aww bless your innocents Leopold Fitz. Besides, you’re still our favourite Scot.” Skye cooed.

Fitz sighed and rolled his eyes before noticing Mack, who had come running into the shop. He slammed the door against a customer on his way through and came running over to them as soon as he spotted them.

“Fitz, stop leaving your damn phone on silent! The hospital called, they couldn't get hold of you on your mobile so they called the landline. It’s your Mum, somethings wrong but they won’t tell me what!” Mack announced to the table, breathless from running.

Fitz felt the world stop. Everything was a blur. Jemma's cream jumper merged into the red booth they were sat at. Skye's leather jacket and plaid shirt blurred into one. The two of them slowly becoming just a black shadow. Everything was muffled. He couldn't hear anything above the sound of his racing heart. None of it mattered. Everything felt like it was crumbling away, his grip on reality slipping. He was fairly sure Mack was still talking to him, but he couldn't hear. Breathing was the only thing he could focus on and that was proving to be difficult enough. Something had gone wrong and he hadn’t been there to help. As if battling Parkinson's at the young age of 48 wasn't enough along with everything she had gone through with his father, now she had to deal with this. Alone. And that’s when it hit him, he had abandoned her just like his father had, they were the same. He had become the thing he swore he never would never become. How could he have left her, what was he thinking going to a university so far away? What kind of a son did that make him?

***

“Fitz? Can you hear us?” Jemma asked, growing more and more concerned, his breathing was shallow, and he had gone a ghostly white. His eyes where glassed over and beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. In the few seconds since Mack had come rushing in Fitz seemed to have shut down completely.

Then, as quickly as he had frozen, he shot up, trembling, his teeth chattering. Before any of them could react, he was out the door, doubled over and vomiting. Jemma was the first out the door after him, the group discarding their unfinished drinks. “Fitz? It's going to be okay, did you hear what Mack said? They said she's stable.” Jemma reassured him whilst handing him a tissue to clean his mouth. Fitz nodded slightly but Jemma was unsure how much he was taking in. He sank to the ground and brought his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around himself, rocking back and forth. Jemma crouched down next to him and attempted to wrap an arm around him which caused him to flinch. The contact seemed to make his panic worsen so she removed her arm and simply sat next to him and offered him encouraging words. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Skye run back into the shop, presumably to get him some water. Every inch of him was shaking and as the tears started to flow, he buried his head in his knees. 

“I’m just like him.” Fitz repeated, each time getting more distressed.

“Just like who Fitz?” Jemma asked.

“Just like him, I left her. I left her all alone.” He said between shaky breaths. And then he was being sick again, this time between his knees where he sat on the floor. “I-I need to go home. I-I ne-need to be there for h-her. Oh God, I can't afford this, what if she needs a carer now? I can't do this. I'll have to drop out and stay with her. Oh God what if she'd died. People are staring, Jemma help me, people are staring?” Fitz cried breathlessly, getting more worked up as he noticed the crowd that had formed around him. His breathing was getting more erratic and he started gasping for air as he gripped tight on Jemma’s hand. “I can't breathe, I can't, I-I can't breathe. Jemma help me. I can't do this.” As Fitz started to hyperventilate Skye came back with a bottle of water, ready to give them to him when he was ready.

Fitz was still crying out for help and Mack was trying to keep the prying eyes of the other students away from him. Jemma felt on the brink of tears herself. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that Fitz needed her to be strong right now.

“Fitz, I need you do listen to me okay, do you understand?” Jemma waited for a small nod of comprehension before continuing, trying to control her own emotions at the heart-breaking sight before her. “I need you to stand up so we can go somewhere quiet. And then we’re going to do some deep breathing, okay, it'll stop the hyperventilation.” Jemma said pulling him up gently, she led him over to the alley next to the shop for some privacy.

“I-I can't d-do it, I can't s-stop.” Fitz cried out, gasping for air.

“Yes you can, I know you can, okay? Do it with me, breath in, 1…2…3…4…5…6…7, and out 1…2…3…4…5…6…7, and again, in, 1…2…3…4…5…6…7, and out , 1…2…3…4…5…6…7. See you can do it, keep going.” They kept breathing deeply together for a few minutes before Fitz got his breathing under control. Skye and Mack joined them in the alley when she waved them over, signalling that the worst was over. Skye handed him the water, although his hands were still trembling, he managed to take a sip from it. Jemma pulled out a few more tissues for him and he wiped his tears away as best he could. “It's going to be okay.” Jemma soothed, and tentatively rubbed his arm which, to Jemma’s relief, he didn’t flinch at this time.

Skye leaned over to whisper in Jemma's ear, “Could you call your parents, ask if they could lend him some money so that he can fly up there.” Jemma nodded. She started to stand up but Fitz held an iron grip on her hand and his eyes begged her to stay put. Instead, she passed her phone to Skye, silently asking if she could call on her behalf.

“I’m right here Fitz, I’m not going anywhere.” She whispered to him as she brought her forehead to rest on his. “I’m right here.”


	9. Day 22

Fitz felt like his brain was covered in fog, barely able to keep one foot moving in front of the other. _Just one step at a time_ , he reminded himself. This step, nearing completion, was to get to the hospital from Glasgow airport. Fitz made his way out of the taxi that had pulled up next to the building and ran off in search of the reception desk.

 _Next step, find Mum_. “Isobel Fitz, I'm looking for Isobel Fitz, I'm her son, she had a fall. I need to see her. Now.” Fitz barked at the nurse at receptionn. “Please...” He added slightly sheepishly when he realised how appalled his mum would be with his attitude. _Who has time for pleasantries when everything is so messed up?_

“She's in 307.” The nurse answered with a tight smile.

“Thank you.” Fitz managed to say before running off to the lift. The lift, like his flight and taxi drive, somehow took forever and no time at all. All he could do was focus on keeping his heartbeat steady, everything else was too much to concentrate on. As the lift released him, he ran down the corridor, being yelled at by different people as he went, unable to find the will or the energy to apologise as he crashed through them on his way. As he saw the room on his right he slid to a halt. He ran one hand through his hair and the other down his chest to smooth his shirt. Taking a deep breath, he walked in. “Hi Mum.”

She was asleep and the room was empty. He walked over to her bed and looked at the fragile sleeping woman lying in it. She had a bandage round her head where she had hit it and her right arm in a cast along with a few dark bruises from the fall. The tears started up again, but this time no one was around to see. He sat down on the seat next to her bed and took her hand in his. With her hand firmly between his, he finally felt tethered to the earth for the first time since Mack had told him the news. “I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner, I'm sorry I wasn't here for you.” He sobbed. And then, like the dam had been opened, he started to wail. He hadn't cried like this since he was a boy, but he couldn't stop the loud sobs and flood of tears that followed. If this was what it felt like to almost lose her, he didn’t know how he would cope when the inevitable day came.

For a moment, all he could see was red. Why was the world so cruel? What had his mother ever done to deserve all she had suffered through. What could she have possibly done to deserve this? And what had he done? He had left her all alone to deal with it. Of course, this had happened. And it was all his fault.

The limp hand he held tight in his started to twitch. He drew in a raspy breath and opened his eyes to meet his mothers. “I-I'm sorry Mum. I'm so, I’m so sorry.” He cried, bringing her hand up to his face so she could hold his cheek. Gently she wiped away his tears with her thumb. “I'm sorry I wasn't here.” He sniffed.

“Don't be silly Leo, you were exactly where you were supposed to be.” It was what she always told him when he apologised for being elsewhere when she needed him. But it was of little comfort to him.

He shook his head as he let out another loud sob. “No, I should have been with you, that's where I'm supposed to be.” She stroked away more tears from his face and he did the same for her. He brought her hand down to meet his lips and kissed it. He wanted nothing more than to be brought into a tight embrace, like when he was a small child and he had had a nightmare, but he knew her hand was all she was able to offer right now.

“My job is to care for you, not the other way around.” She whispered slowly.

“Are you in any pain? I can find a nurse?”

Isobel Fitz shook her head. “Tell me about school, how's it going?” Fitz kissed her hand again, and then brought it down to his lap and held it tight.

“It’s going well, I’m top of my class.” He said with a blush as a proud smile formed on his mother’s lips.

“I know that. What about your new friends?” She said with a great deal of effort. “Tell me about your friends?”

Fitz couldn’t help but smile. He knew his mum worried about him being lonely and he knew hearing about Jemma and Skye had been a big relief for her. So he told her everything he could think to tell her about his new friends and she listened eagerly until her energy gave out and she slowly drifted back to sleep.

***

Jemma and Skye hadn't seen Fitz since he left for the airport that morning and they were awaiting a text to confirm his arrival. His flight had been at 11:10am, the first flight he had been able to get at such short notice. They had persuaded him to stay at theirs overnight and had reminded him that getting the 8:55pm flight the previous day would have been pointless as visiting hours would be over. He was best to get a good night's sleep and leave in the morning. Although he had been hesitant to do so, they had managed to persuade him.

He should have arrived around 12:40pm, and been at the hospital within the hour, just in time for the start of the visiting hours. It was now 2:05pm and they hadn't heard from him. Jemma felt that she had been patient enough and now it was time to give him a ring, after all he had most likely just forgotten to text. Taking out her phone she scrolled through her contacts until reaching Fitz and pressed the call button. It went straight to voicemail, so his phone was either off, dead or out of service. Most likely it was that he had no signal as they had made sure he charged his phone up overnight and he wouldn’t have turned it off. _Would he?_ Hoping that it was a sign that he was with his mother and the hospital just had poor reception, Jemma left him a text asking him to let her know how he was.

An hour later Jemma received a call. Excusing herself from her lecture hall she answered.

“Hi, how is she?”

“I don't really know, she's asleep at the moment… the doctor gave me a rundown of everything, but I couldn't take it in… She’s got a laceration on her head along with a severe concussion and a broken arm, they want to keep her in overnight again for monitoring, but they don’t think she needs surgery. I don't know, she seems okay though in herself, not too confused, but her movements are worse than normal.” Fitz sounded near to tears and with the background hospital noise too he was rather hard to hear. All she wanted was to give him a much-needed hug.

“Well, it could have been a lot worse so considering the potential outcomes it sounds like she was fairly lucky.” Jemma responded, deciding that Fitz needed her to be the calm and collected voice of reason at the moment.

“Nothing about this is lucky. What is lucky about Parkinson’s? What's lucky about falling and cutting your head and breaking your arm?” Fitz snapped.

Jemma paused, taken aback by his unexpected outburst. “I didn't mean it like that Fitz.” Jemma answered softly, regretting her choice of words.

“I know, I'm sorry, I'm just so angry and I have no one to yell at.” Fitz replied bitterly.

“You... you can yell at me if it will help?” Jemma offered.

“I can’t do that, you haven't done anything. And Mum would kill me.” He said softening.

“Well, I'm here for whatever you need, as is Skye. She'd appreciate a call as well if you have time. How about you Skype us tonight, when you leave?” Jemma offered.

‘Mmm… I don't know, I just want to sleep if I'm honest, I'm exhausted, I will give Skye a quick ring though.” Fitz took a deep, but shaky breath. “I don't want to go back to an empty house, I want to stay with Mum.”

Jemma sighed, she felt awful for him, no one deserved this, least of all him. “I don't think there's a way round that one I'm afraid. But if at any point you need to talk to either of us, just call, doesn't matter what time.”

“Thank you. You're not busy now are you?” Fitz asked with more concern than Jemma thought possible for someone in his position.

“Well I've got a lecture, but it's no big deal, really.”

“Shit, sorry, I didn't mean to ta-”

“I said it didn't matter, you're more important.” Jemma cut him off. It was then that Jemma realised just how much she cared for him, they had known each other just a few weeks, but she already couldn't imagine her life without him.

“No I'm not, look you get back to your lecture and I'll give Skye a call. I don't want you missing important stuff.”

“Leopold Fitz don't be ridiculous, I'd miss the whole year if it meant helping you.” There was silence on the other end of the phone, neither of them sure what to do with the information, Jemma’s own mind spinning at the realisation that she did indeed think he was more important than her degree. After a moment she gathered herself and continued. “However, calling Skye is a good idea, she's been texting me all worried about you.” Jemma powered through, suddenly needing to end the conversation. Jemma wasn't exactly a closed off person, she just wasn’t the best at communicating her emotions. So her sudden out burst and swell of emotions had taken her rather by surprise.

“Yeah, okay… I'll call her then… umm thanks, I'll talk to you tomorrow.” Fitz sounded as flustered as she felt.

“No problem, it was good to talk to you, bye.”

“Bye.” She hung up and sagged against the wall behind her, a whirlwind storming her mind. Maybe she would talk to Skye about it later. Or maybe Fitz would tell her on the phone, that would be good, she decided, as that way she could gauge his side of things. Although his mum would probably be the main focus of conversation so maybe he wouldn't bring it up.

Putting her phone away, Jemma decided to not tell Skye, at least for now, she needed to think things through. She had never had such a fast-forming friendship before, sure her and Skye had bonded quickly, but this felt nothing like that had and it was all rather confusing.


	10. Day 25

Fitz sat down, sighing louder than he'd intended. The last few days had been a whirlwind, full of information regarding his mother's condition, how best to support her in her recovery from her fall and phone calls to sort out her care once he returned to university. It had taken the best part of the last two days for his mother to convince him to go back at all. He had been fully prepared to drop everything for her. He'd even been looking for jobs in the paper at the hospital.

Forever thankful for the Scottish NHS covering far more than the rest of the UK, Fitz hadn't had to dip into to much of their limited savings for the necessary care. Since his mother’s discharge he'd spent his time getting her settled back in and trying his best to get the bungalow back in order. He had also put special effort into cooking her favourite meals for her. He had become a decent cook in his teens, having to take over the nightly duty as his mother's condition worsened. Now she was forced to have microwave meals every night, much to Fitz's frustration. 

It was times like this that he felt like the worst son ever. The house was a mess where his mother struggled with daily tasks, her diet was as bad as some of his peers and to top it off she was continuing to deteriorate at an alarming rate. Soon he would need to find a home for her and that truly would drain the last of their savings. In the morning he would have to start calling up homes and finding out exactly how it all worked. 

Looking around the room he made a mental list of all the things he needed to do over the coming week before he left. There was a pile of washed clothes in the corner by the bathroom that still needed to be ironed and put away, a lot of unopened mail that needed sorting through and just a general good dusting. And all that was after having spent the last few days getting loads of washing through the machine, cleaning the place so he could get the hoover round as well as fixing the countless items around the house that were broken. The work seemed never ending. Not to mention the hawk like watch he had on his mother the whole time, terrified she would fall and hurt herself again.

Eventually he summoned the energy to clean the kitchen and wash the dishes instead of allowing himself to sink any deeper into the sofa that was as old as him.

***

“Jemma, please? I won't drink, I won't leave you, I won't let any guy near you or your drink - if you choose to have one. The only time we will be apart is if we go to the loo, because I refuse to go into the cubical with you, or get separated on the dance floor, if you so desire to dance that is. Although that's kinda the point of going out, and you do love dancing, but if you just want to sit at the side we can do that too. This is to ease you back into things.” Skye pleaded. Jemma wrapped her hand's round the front of her neck in frustration, although more at herself than Skye.

“Just one hour?” Jemma asked for the hundredth time. She was, for the first time in months, seriously considering going out with Skye. She had loved letting loose on a Friday night and clubbing with Skye, but she wasn't sure if it would ever be the same now. She had never been more terrified than that night. Her body no longer under her control. Not responding to her, speech escaping her and not letting her form proper words. To any bystander she might have looked like someone who had simply had way too much to drink, her flailing limbs and slurred speech, not anything unusual to the clubbers around her. Thankfully the bar tender had been keeping tabs on who had drank how much and realised that after one drink she couldn't possibly be that drunk and that she hadn’t come in loaded up on pre drinks. The rest of the night was a blur, but she knew she'd been one of the lucky ones, ending up perfectly safe in her bed, left only with a terrible hang over and a volatile stomach the morning after.

“Just one, single puny little hour.” Skye confirmed.

Jemma sighed and took a deep breath. She looked about her flat and knew she was just going to end up getting bored if she stayed. “Do you think it’s okay though? I mean with everything Fitz is going through?” She worried.

“It’s not going to help Fitz or his mom if we stay in is it? And it’ll be good for us to relax, it’s been a rough week.”

“Okay...” Jemma admitted defeat, it was time she got back out there, and Skye was right, they couldn’t help Fitz anymore from a club than they could from their living room.

An hour later and they were at the club, Skye chatting up some guy on her right while Jemma sat on her left, twirling the straw around in her drink. Unable to hear what they were saying over the music, she had given up on joining in with the conversation. This was not quite how the evening was supposed to go. It had started off well enough, they'd gone to the bar and ordered their drinks - Skye refusing to have anything stronger than a beer to try and make Jemma feel more comfortable, despite Jemma's insistence that that was unnecessary. But then about 10 minutes in, this guy had shown up and Skye had been talking to him ever since. Taking in a deep breath she took out her phone, fed up with being ignored by Skye. _Sure the guys hot, but this is meant to be a girl's night out_. She opened up her conversation with Fitz and sent him a text.

JEMMA [9:33]: Hey, how're things going?

FITZ [9:36]: Hi, alright I guess… you?

JEMMA [9:37]: Skye dragged me out to a club and now she's ignoring me for some hot guy… so great…

FITZ [9:37]: Ouch, that sucks, just don't go next time, I don't see what you like about it.

JEMMA [9:38]: It used to be fun, I've just got to get back into the swing of things, I guess. You should come with us some time.

JEMMA [9:38]: Anyway, that’s not important right now. Are you sure you’re okay?

FITZ [9:38]: I guess things are not great, Mum's as good as can be expected, but the bungalows a mess, and I have so many things to sort out before I leave again and I'm just too exhausted for it all.

JEMMA [9:39]: I wish I could help you, though I doubt helping you is a good enough reason to be excused from lectures. I did mean it though, if you want me there, I’ll be there, consequences be damned.

FITZ [9:40]: You are not missing your lectures for me. 

JEMMA [9:41]: Well I still wish I could do more.

FITZ [9:41]: I know, I appreciate it. Thank you.

FITZ [9:41]: I'm kinda exhausted I'm afraid, it's been a long day. Do you mind if I call it a night?

JEMMA [9:42]: Of course, I'm sorry to keep you up.

FITZ [9:42]: That's okay, it was nice to chat. I've got a busy day tomorrow, but if I have time I'll give you a call tomorrow. Good luck with the rest of your evening.

JEMMA [9:43]: Okay, I hope you get a good night's sleep, please try to have some down time too, you need to find time to relax. Good night x

FITZ [9:43]: Nighty night 

***

Skye was engrossed in conversation with Miles as he told her about his most recent attempt at programming an AI. “It's still learning, but it's coming along better than my last couple of attempts. It can hold a basic conversation, so it's getting there. It's just very easy to accidently break it all though, ya know?”

“Yeah tell me about it, when I was at high school I went through about eight AI's before getting a very basic one running. I was using a school computer for it and some idiot broke it and I couldn't recover it, which was super frustrating…” Skye chuckled. “And after that finals came, and I just didn’t have the time to start again…” Skye trailed off, noting that Jemma was on her phone texting. _Damn this was supposed to be a girl's night out and here I am chatting with a classmate…_ “Well it's been great chatting with you Miles, but I was supposed to be spending the evening with Jemma here and I think I've somewhat abandoned her. Maybe we can continue this in class tomorrow?” Skye smiled, trying to make sure she seemed sincere, not wanting to offend him. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Jemma's phone had been put away and she was now staring into her piña colada.

“Sure, sorry to have disturbed your night out.” Miles gave her a quick smile before getting up and going.

“Sorry Jemma. That wasn't intentional, you know how I get when someone starts talking computers.” Skye apologised as she swivelled round on her stool.

“Thirty-two minutes, we have thirty-two minutes left what do you want to do with them?” Jemma responded, ignoring her apology, evidently she was mad, but was saving it for another time. Probably when they were in the middle of their next argument she'd bring it up just to have another thing to yell about. They didn't argue much, but when they did it could be fierce. They were like sisters, and that meant screaming at each other on occasion too.

“I really am sorry Jemma.”

“What happened to that guy you were dating?” Jemma asked, subtly changing subject.

“Oh that fizzled out. But that's just Miles, that wasn't me flirting. That was just computer talk.”

“Well 'just Miles' is super cute and super interested in you.”

“What? Miles is just a friend. Would be like me and Fitz or something.” Skye shuddered to add effect. Perhaps that wasn't the most sensitive of choices, she knew Fitz had had a crush on her early on _._ And what she’d said kind of felt like belittling him in some way which hadn't been her intention. Skye saw a flicker of something in Jemma's eye, her jaw tightened temporarily before she quickly relaxed and chuckled along to Skye's comparison. “Talking of Fitz.” Skye said, dragging out the ‘z’. “What do you think of him?” Skye asked, realising this could be a good opportunity for ‘Operation Fitzsimmons’.

“I'm not quite sure I understand your question Skye.”

“What do you think, like I can't peg him down? He's cute, but not my kind of cute, I think he's your kind of cute though. So?” Skye asked, trying to keep things natural.

Jemma flushed red, and momentarily looked very startled. “Umm, well, I hadn't even thought about it, he's a friend. And he likes you anyway.” Jemma deflected. Skye was already prepared for this response and was ready to fire back.

“I think liked is the better word there, he barely notices me if you’re in the room.” Jemma gave her a look, clearly not believing her. Not to be deterred Skye continued on with phase one of her plan. “I'm asking you to look at the whole package. His brains, his personality and his cute lil smile that he reserves just for when you walk into the room.” Skye said slyly, taking a sip of her beer.

“What? He does no such thing! What's prompting this? Has he said something?”

“Yeah he does!” _How is this girl so blind?_ “And no he hasn’t said anything, I just think you guys would be cute, come on, tell me you haven't thought about it? Does he make your lady parts tingle?” Skye said with a smirk.

“Skye!” Jemma said looking around to check no one was listening to their conversation. “No, he doesn't. Look I don't know what to tell you…”

“You are so your mother's daughter.” Skye laughed at Jemma's fluster. “Just think it over Jemma, like fine, if you can't see it then whatever, but he's a sweet guy and he's a cutie. And the way he looks at you, well I've never seen anything like it. It's like you're his entire world. I just think neither of you have pieced it together yet. But hey maybe I'm wrong. However, from the way you look at him back, I'd say I'm right.” Skye said seriously.

“Even if I did hypothetically feel that way about him, I wouldn’t want to mess up what we’ve got.”

“What if it doesn't?” Skye said before getting up and nodding her head to the dance floor. “Now come dance will ya?”

Jemma gave her a quizzical glance before rolling her eyes and taking Skye’s extended hand and making their way to the dance floor.


	11. Day 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning - This chapter mentions alcoholism

Jemma rushed around the flat in her pyjamas, cleaning everything up for Fitz's arrival. Although he'd arrived back from Scotland on Tuesday, he had been playing catch up with the work he'd missed and therefore hadn't wanted to meet up until Friday night. It had been nine days since she'd seen him face-to-face and she desperately wanted everything to be perfect. Skye on the other hand was less concerned, lounging across the armchair reading a book in her onesie. After their conversation at the club Skye hadn't brought up the idea of her and Fitz again, but that hadn't stopped Jemma spending every spare moment pondering the idea. She was thoroughly confused about her feelings and she wasn't sure how much of the butterflies in her stomach were just due to the excitement to see her friend again and how much was because of the idea that Skye had put into her head.

“Really Jemma, I don't understand why you're making such a fuss, he's been here before, the first time he came it was a complete mess because you randomly decided to let a stranger into our home. Seriously like that could have gone so wrong, he could have been a serial killer. It's always the quiet ones you know.” Skye joked without looking up from her book.

“I just want everything to go well, he's had a rough 10 days and I want to make this as enjoyable as possible.” Jemma tried to reason. They both knew she was just working off her nervous energy, she just hoped Skye wouldn't pry into the reasoning behind her nerves.

“Well all I'm saying is, he's here for a movie night and some beers. And, maybe I'll break out the Bacardi and Coke if we're feeling it. Actually make that a definite, I need to see that boy drunk.” Skye said with a big grin pausing. “If he wants to, that is…” Skye added, her tone suddenly changed, much more sombre than seconds before. Jemma gave her a confused look, Skye was usually the ringleader whenever alcohol was involved, always cheering people on and encouraging them to have one too many drinks. “Well not everyone does.” Skye defended. “Just sit down and watch some Jeremy Kyle or something. There was a hilarious episode on the other day, I recorded it for you.” Seeing Jemma's deadpan stare Skye changed her suggestion. “Or you could watch a nice documentary? I don't understand you, Jeremy Kyle is hilarious, it's really a feel-good comedy, fun for all the family.”

Ignoring Skye's continued ramble, about why Jeremy Kyle is an underrated national treasure and how the British should embrace it, Jemma sat down on their futon and put Animal Planet on. She then took out her phone and responded to some texts before asking Fitz how long he would be. Her phone buzzed almost instantly.

FITZ [6:02]: I'm running a little early for once.

JEMMA [6:02]: How early? We're not doing anything you can come by earlier than half past.

FITZ [6:03]: I'm kinda sat outside your door… I was going to wait.

FITZ [6:03]: I didn't want to intrude…

Jemma sighed and instantly stood up and went to open the door, causing Fitz to fall backwards and into their flat with a grunt.

“You're an idiot, you know. Next time you're early you could just text and actually be a civilised person and oh I don't know, come in?” Jemma said with an affectionate smile, helping pull him up off the floor, before closing the door.

“Sorry…” Fitz said with a sheepish grin. “Nice PJ's.” He said looking at her Tardis patterned pyjamas, he himself having declined the offer of wearing the onesie Skye had bought him. “Monkeys!” Fitz exclaimed upon noticing the TV and the squirrel monkey on it. He quickly made himself at home by jumping over the back of the futon and turning the volume up as he snuggled in.

“Told you to put Jeremy Kyle on, now we're never going to get to watch El Dorado.” Skye said, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah yeah yeah…”

“Beer and monkeys instead of beer and The Road to El Dorado?” Fitz pleaded, knowing full well that neither of them would object after the week he'd had. Jemma smiled in agreement, but mouthed ‘Bacardi’ to Skye, knowing they'd need it with all the facts he was going to overload them with.

“Did you know squirrel monkeys have the largest brain to body mass of all the primates and are highly intelligent? Also, they spread urine on their hands and feet so that they can leave a scent trail as they move.” Fitz said as Skye shoved a beer bottle into his hands.

“Uh huh, cool… How long's this got?” Skye asked, sitting back down on the armchair. Jemma wondered whether this was a calculated move, making sure she and Fitz ended up next to each other on the futon, it seemed likely knowing Skye. That or Jemma was going crazy and overanalysing everything…

“Well the next few programs are all about monkeys so…” Fitz answered looking at the program schedule.

Sighing Skye rolled her eyes and got up to pour herself a Bacardi and Coke. “Want one?” Jemma nodded and Fitz raised his beer, showing her that he was good for the moment. Skye quickly came back from the kitchen and handed Jemma her glass. Jemma gave it a quick sniff to smell how strong Skye had made it and pulled a face as she inhaled, what she suspected, was equal parts Bacardi to cola.

“You love monkeys too, you just won’t admit it.” Fitz said with a laugh, having seen them both share a look as they drank.

“Course we do.” Jemma said, ruffling his curls. His hair was softer than expected and a small shiver rush through her, leaving her more confused than before. _Damn Skye and her meddling._

***

“And that,” Fitz concluded, “is why a monkey would be the perfect lab assistant.” It was almost midnight and the pack of beers had been emptied by Fitz as the girls had shared their bottle of Bacardi between the two of them. Skye had made her way onto the floor and was now covered in blankets that Jemma had thought to get out of the cupboard before they all got too drunk. Fitz and Jemma were sat on the now pulled out futon, with their legs stretched out in front of them, sharing a blanket.

“You have a very good argument, Mr Fitz.” Jemma responded after giving his idea serious consideration. “You should suggest it to your lecturers. We should write an email.” Jemma said with enthusiasm, trying to stand up off the futon to fetch her laptop.

“Maybe in the morning would be better Jems?” Fitz suggested, slightly less drunk than the other two. He leant over to pull her back down onto the futon but with Jemma's questionable balance she ended up falling right on top of him.

“Well this is rather intimate…” Jemma mumbled. Fitz felt his heartbeat quicken, surely that was down to the alcohol and not their sudden closeness? “Skye?” Jemma whisper shouted at the clearly sleeping Skye as she pulled herself off of him. Skye was now lying on the floor between the armchair and futon. “I think she's asleep…” Jemma murmured, now sat back against the back of the futon.

“I think you're right…” Fitz said as Jemma leant down to rest her head on his lap and curled up. His heartbeat sped up again, he only hoped she wouldn't notice. “Jemma?”

“‘Yes Fitz?”

“I think I’m drunk.” He had never been drunk before. He had had alcohol before, but never this much in one go. It didn’t feel like he expected. He felt fuzzy and warm and most importantly, happy.

“I think we all are.” Jemma said softly.

“I’m not supposed to get drunk. But it feels nice. Maybe that’s the problem though. Maybe that’s how it starts…”

“What starts?”

“Alc-Alcoholism.” Fitz struggled out, he was sure it wasn’t normally that hard to say.

“Getting drunk once in a while doesn’t make you an alcoholic Fitz.”

Fitz considered what she said, forgetting momentarily why he was unsure if drinking had been the wisest of decisions. It felt nice and he didn’t feel like he’d over done it, he still felt in control, just fuzzy around the edges, like a weight had been taken off his shoulders. “It’s in my genes though.”

“What’s in your jeans?” Jemma asked as she moved a hand to feel his pockets.

“No, no, no, my genes, with a g.” Jemma let out a confused little grunt. “My dad is an alcoholic. Mum always said I should be careful with alcohol. But the first few beers were nice and then I felt less stressed, so I kept going…”

“Oh…If you’d said we could ha-”

“No, no its fine, I just, I don’t know… I feel happy, he was always angry. So maybe its ok… Just once in a while. Just because he’s an alcoholic doesn’t mean I inherited anything. I don’t think I have an ad-addictive personality or anything… and I don’t want to miss out on things just because of him.” He could feel himself begin to chew on his bottom lip. “I’ll talk to Mum in the morning.” He was confused and now was not the time to overthink, not when his brain was working at what felt like 50% its usual ability and speed. “She always knows what’s best, she’s very wise, my mum.” And she was, she always had the right words for him at the right time. “What am I going to do when…” He trailed off, unsure if he really wanted to finish his sentence.

“When what?”

“When my, my mum… when she goes…” Fitz could almost hear the cogs whirring away as Jemma tried to figure out what he meant.

“Oh…” Jemma said, realising what he meant. “She might… she might get better…”

“It's Parkinson's. You don't get better.” Fitz felt the pressure of Jemma's head leave his lap and turned his head to look at her, now sat back up and only a few inches from his face.

“I don't know.” Jemma said grabbing his hand. He could smell the alcohol on her breath, he was sure his smelt similar. “But we're here for you every step of the way.” Jemma said, sounding almost sober. She wiped away his tears and gave him a gentle hug. He froze for a second before wrapping his arms around her, letting himself fall apart. She murmured soothing words as she rubbed his back with one hand and stroked his hair with the other. For a while they stayed like that, wrapped in each other's embrace before he finally pulled away. With a sniff he wiped away the last of his tears, wanting to get back to the fun evening they had been having.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to ruin the evening."

"Nonsense, you did no such thing. We're friends are we not?"

"Of course."

"Then there is nothing wrong with talking about things on your mind, especially big scary things." Jemma said firmly.

"Okay." Fitz paused unsure where to go from here, what had they been talking about before? It took him a moment to remember. "I never asked, who would be your perfect lab assistant?” Fitz asked trying to steer them back to safer waters.

“I don't know… that's a hard one. Let me think…” Jemma said, clearly sensing he was done talking about his mum. “I'd have to say… Baymax. He would be good at analysing everything and if the lab got attacked, then he'd go all badass and save the lab and all my hard work.” 

“Why's the lab being attacked? What top-secret work are you working on that's made it vulnerable to attack and who's attacking it?” Fitz asked, although it probably came out far less coherently that that, he realised.

“A ro-rogue Nazi group... because I've dis-discovered how to grow a whole new limb in twenty-four hours.” Jemma responded, evidently struggling with her words too.

“Wow, Nazi's, this is serious, do you think Baymax is strong enough to take them all on?”

“Well…” Jemma said, dragging the word out. “Worst case sce-scen-scenario, he fly's away with all my research to take it to safety.” Fitz nodded his head in agreement to her story, finding it believable.

“Scenario is a hard word to say, ya know.” Fitz said, mind quickly distracted.

“So's dyslexia, hard to spell too, for all those dyslexics.”

“It's a metaphor for life. The world likes to highlight what you're bad at… or something…” Fitz muttered.

“You're a metaphor for life.” Jemma retorted. Fitz scrunched up his face, thoroughly offended by her insult.

“Well you're, you, you are a… simile for life.” He countered, smiling at his wit.

“What? You make no sense.”

“Well you make less sense.” Fitz stuck his tongue out, to add affect.

“Hmph.” Jemma turned around it mock anger and Fitz prodded her in the side above her hip, making her squirm and giggle. “Shhhhhh! We'll wake Skye.” Jemma whispered, reminding Fitz of her existence.

“Oh yeah…” Fitz said before covering Jemma's mouth and proceeding to tickle her until she licked his hand. “Eww, gross!”

“Well don't do that then.” Jemma pouted.

“Nu-uh you don’t get away with that. Don’t lick me weirdo.” Fitz said wiping his lick covered hand on her arm. “I want popcorn. Can we make some?” Fitz asked, already distracted by the idea.

“What? No. It's noisy with all its popping.”

“Popty ping.” Fitz said more to himself that Jemma. “Microwave, in Welsh, only word I know for some reason.” He clarified. Her lips formed an ‘o’ shape and she shrugged. She then slid down the futon and snuggled under the thick blanket they were sharing.

“Are you going to take your top off again?” Jemma asked. Reminding Fitz that he was still in his shirt and jeans.

“I don't know…” Fitz said unsure if it was appropriate.

“You can if you'd be more comfortable. And jeans are horrid to sleep in. So, I don't mind.” Fitz considered her words for a moment before climbing off and unbuttoning his shirt. He was aware of her eyes on him as he stripped down to his boxers, but quickly forgot all about it as he tripped over backwards whilst taking his jeans off. Opening his eyes he realised he was now looking at the kitchen ceiling. He could vaguely hear a grunt from Skye and Jemma's muffled giggle as he righted himself and awkwardly shuffled back to the futon, trying not to trip in the dark. Dropping his jeans next to his shirt, he slid back under the blanket and faced Jemma. “You're radiating heat… no wonder you got too hot last time.” Jemma murmured. She let out a yawn, which was shortly followed by a burb and a giggle from both of them. “Good night Fitz.”

“Good night Jemma.”


	12. Day 33

Light was starting to fill the living room from the window in the kitchen. The large archway into the kitchen allowed the lounge to be flooded with light, despite the lack of an actual window in the living room. Squinting Skye tried to focus her mind and reluctantly re-joined the land of the living. With a slight grunt she buried her head back into the pile of blankets that had become her bed for the night. With a moan she slowly sat up, getting her bearings. The room felt like it was spinning, and she was pretty sure she was still slightly drunk. Slowly she crept across the room, past the futon which Jemma and Fitz were sharing and into the kitchen. Practically hissing at the early morning light, she took out a glass from the cupboard and then filled it with water. After gulping down her glass, she refilled it and located some aspirin before taking it back into the lounge.

She slumped down into the armchair and put her glass on the coaster on top of the cupboard. Craning her neck up to see the time on the wall clock above, she groaned. It was 6:47, far too early for Skye on a Saturday morning. Picking her phone up off the floor to check for messages Skye noticed the clump on the futon that was Jemma and Fitz. With a smile she noted how completely entangled they were. Fitz was spooning Jemma, from what Skye could see poking out from under the blankets, Jemma had in turn tangled her legs around his. Jemma held one of his arms up to her chest, snuggling it like a teddy. His hand was limply curled, so that the back of his fingers where against her cheek. Fitz's head was buried into the nook of her shoulder, and he was breathing deeply, as if he wanted to breathe her all in even in sleep. With a fond smile, Skye was torn between thinking about how adorable they looked and thinking about how awkwardly hilarious they would be upon waking up and realising they had spent the night cuddling. The fact that Fitz appeared to be in just his boxers would make the whole thing even more entertaining.

She decided to take a picture for later use, perhaps for a photo montage at their wedding, she thought slyly. That would truly embarrass them, and the horrified look on Mrs Simmons face would make it even better. Although some might think it was a little early to be thinking about a wedding, Skye was lost in the dream, already planning out all the details that she'd have to sort out as head bridesmaid. Her fantasy was disturbed by the stirring form on the futon. It was impossible to tell who had originally caused the movement, but it looked like the two were now slowly waking up.

***

Jemma woke to the warm sensation of Fitz pressed against her back. The embrace was perhaps more comforting than it should have been, considering the platonic nature of their relationship, but she was enjoying it and she had no plans to open her eyes and give herself away any time soon. If the world thought she was asleep, then she couldn't be blamed for staying in his arms. She was vaguely aware of his hand against her face and she gently nuzzled into it, breathing him in. The movement caused him to tighten his embrace, pulling her back against him more. His hips pushing against her bum. It was then, that Jemma's eyes shot open.

“Good morning.” Skye chirped from the armchair. Jemma simply nodded, not sure what to do about the fact that Fitz had a very noticeable erection and was pressing it up against her in his sleep. She saw two options before her, one that she got up, and two that she didn’t. Both options had problems, getting up meant she would most likely wake him and embarrass him. Staying put and ignoring it simply meant delaying the inevitable as he would eventually wake up and realise that she hadn't moved that would be even weirder. Thankfully she didn't have time to choose as Skye's greeting had woken him from his slumber. The initial startle caused him to push against her more for a split second and then he recoiled in shock, evidently aware of what was happening.

“Oh my God.” He whispered in horror. He jumped out of the makeshift bed, grabbed his clothes from beside the futon and held them in front of his boxers. And then he ran into the bathroom, all before Jemma had a chance to react or say anything.

“What was that about?” Skye asked, before the gears turned in her head. “Oh, oh God, no...”

“Fitz?” Jemma called out as she walked up to the bathroom. “It's okay, Fitz. It's just biology…” Jemma was unsure how to help her friend out of this predicament, but desperately wanted to try.

“Please go away…” Fitz mumbled through the door. Jemma sighed, feeling rather defeated, before backing away from the door and nodding to Skye to go to the kitchen with her. Skye jumped out of the armchair, seemingly instantly regretting it as she struggled to stay on her feet afterwards and then walked slowly across the room to the kitchen.

“Right... so what actually happened there? Like did you feel it or what? How much damage control is needed here?” Skye whispered, whilst putting the kettle on. “Tea or coffee?” She asked at a normal volume.

“Coffee.” Jemma sighed, she considered asking Fitz if he wanted one, but decided against it. “And umm, it's pretty bad.”

“That's why your eyes shot open right?”

Jemma nodded before revealing the details to Skye. “So at first we're just snuggling and I was too tired to do anything about it so I just kinda stayed put, it was comfy and warm so why not?” Jemma desperately hoped Skye would not question her decision to stay put. “And, then he sort of brought his… ummm… pelvis up against my butt and that's when I opened my eyes, not sure what to do. And, then you spoke waking him up, and initially he kinda pulled me in more, for like a second and then he properly woke up and realised…”

“That he had morning wood and was pressing it up against your bum?” Skye finished, way too loud for Fitz not to have heard.

“Shhh!” Jemma scolded, mortified on Fitz’s behalf. Her cheeks were burning red as she brought down two mugs for Skye to make the coffees in.

“So important questions, did you like it and how big was it, cause he's small, you know, but that doesn't always mean it correlates?” Skye said in a voice that was too loud for the subject matter and for how thin the wall was between themselves and said subject. 

“I am not answering that, our friend is in the toilet, mortified right now. We are not going to make light of his embarrassment.” Jemma scolded. That was not to mean she hadn't answered the questions in her head, which was making her feel more confused than ever. Skye had really got into her head and made everything more complicated.

“Jemma, Jemma, Jemma. What do you think he is doing in our bathroom? Because he sure as hell isn't sat on the floor crying in embarrassment.” Skye said raising her eyebrow.

“What? No? He wouldn't… they go after you pee though right?”

“He's a nineteen year old virgin, of course he is.”

“How do you know he's a virgin?”

“Have you met the guy? There is no way he's ever had the confidence to do anything with anyone. This was probably the most sexual experience he's had with another person. Of course he's having a wank in our bathroom.” Skye said handing Jemma her coffee and sitting down at the table.

“I-I don't think we should be talking about him like this. It doesn't seem right.”

“God Jemma, you are such a prude, how did you ever get past second base?” Skye laughed, volume once again rising to the point that Fitz could almost certainly hear them through the shared wall.

“Can we just not discuss these things, it's only just gone seven?” Jemma said, hiding her flush with her mug. Although she certainly wasn't a virgin anymore, her upbringing had made talking about such matters embarrassing and uncomfortable.

“You are so English.” Skye sighed fondly.

“Well obviously.”

“You know what I mean.” Skye said with a laugh.

The two women sipped their teas for a moment before Jemma started to recall the events of the night before.

“Skye? Did you know about Fitz’s father? Yesterday you got all weird after you said you wanted to see him drunk. Is that why?” Jemma suspected that she must have known, it was the only explanation she could think of. The idea of Skye knowing details about Fitz that she didn’t made her feel rather nauseous, or maybe that was the hangover… She certainly didn’t have a monopoly on Fitz, so she hoped it was just the latter.

“Yeah, he told me a bit.” Skye answered, her face suddenly very serious. Jemma was about to press her for more when she saw Fitz appear in the archway, fully dressed.

Thanks to Skye, Jemma was now trying to figure out if he had been gone long enough to have changed and engaged in said activity. She decided the answer was probably no and didn't let herself dwell on the thought any longer.

“I'm going to go now.” He said and turned to leave.

Jemma shot up from the table and ran to stop him, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him in to face her. “Fitz, you are more than welcome to stay. Nothing has to change because of this.” Jemma said quietly.

Fitz was still blushing and looking very uncomfortable. “I still think I should go…”

Jemma sighed, but understood his embarrassment. “Ok, I'll text you later, and drink lots of water, to help with the hangover.” Jemma instructed as he walked to the door.

“Bye.” He said loud enough for Skye to hear as well.

“Seeya.” Skye called out from the kitchen.

“Bye.” Jemma replied softly, desperately hoping that this hadn’t just ruined everything.


	13. Day 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning - This chapter has mentions of past abuse and alcoholism

Fitz had been avoiding Jemma and Skye since Saturday. They had each sent him a myriad of texts and Jemma had called him twice, all of which he had ignored. Yesterday he had gone straight home, avoiding the library and every path he had ever seen her on around campus like the plague and today was much the same.

He had called his mum the moment he got home on Saturday, and told her about the evening, obviously not including the mortifying events of the morning. Instead, they had talked about alcohol, it had come up briefly in the past, she had never explicitly told him not to drink but she had been very clear with him that alcoholism can be hereditary, and it was something he needed to be mindful of. They had also discussed how his father had become an alcoholic and how it had affected him and his relationships. It had been difficult to say the least, Fitz hated talking about his dad, especially with his mum, it brought back a lot of bad memories for them both. But it was something Fitz knew he needed to talk about now that he had friends, friends who regularly drank.

Before alcohol had only ever been something he had encountered at the occasional family party, Christmas and Hogmanay. Family friends, uncles and cousins would give him a bottle of beer or a sip of whisky. Now he had friends and part of their usual social activities included drinking and he needed to figure out where he stood.

After the conversation he was still uncertain, but he had a plan. He would drink with his friends but he would keep a check in with his mum, make sure that it didn’t become a problem, that he didn’t over drink or begin to use it as a crutch. He could tell his mum would rather he stay clear of the stuff, but he felt confident he wasn’t going to make the same mistakes as his father.

That was assuming he ever had the courage to look his friends in the eye again. He couldn’t think of anything more humiliating. It was like having a dream where you’re naked in school accept this was real and he had in fact woken up with an erection and had in fact pressed it against Jemma Simmons’ bum. Things where not helped by the fact that he had heard snippets of their conversation through the thin wall that separated the bathroom and the kitchen. Like Skye asking Jemma how big his penis was… He had not heard Jemma’s answer which was probably for the best. And now all he could think of when thinking about them was that they could be discussing his penis again.

Fitz dragged his hands over his face as he walked off campus. It was all very frustrating, he had finally made friends, and they clearly still wanted to be his friends despite the incident, but he couldn’t bring himself to look at them.

“Fitz?” Fitz cringed and slowly turned around to face Jemma who appear slightly out of breath, as if she had been running to catch up to him. “I nearly didn’t recognise you with that beanie on.” Which had been the exact point of the beanie to begin with. Fitz said nothing, choosing to chew his lip instead. “If it wasn’t for your Tardis, I wouldn’t have spotted you.” She motioned to the Tardis key chain he had attached to the zip on his backpack. Fitz just nodded, trying and failing at not being awkward. Jemma closed the gap between them until she was standing just in front of him and smiled awkwardly. “This doesn’t have to be weird Fitz, we can just move past this.”

Fitz raised a sceptical eyebrow. Unsure what to say he just shuffled his feet, unable to continue eye contact. And then she grabbed him. Or rather hugged him. But it had set off an automatic fight or flight response in him and he jumped backwards. It was involuntary and instinctual, he was already stressed out and then the sudden contact had been too much. But the hurt look on Jemma’s face said that she didn’t understand that.

“Sorry, you just took me by surprise.” He said quietly, looking around at the other students passing them by.

“Fitz… please. I can’t lose you. Not because of this. I know it’s weird and its awkward, but we can get passed this. Please let’s just hug and move on.” Jemma said softly, almost begging.

“That’s not why I flinched.”

“You didn’t flinch, you jumped, you literally jumped backwards.” Jemma said, looking more and more hurt with every word.

Fitz took in a deep breath and grabbed Jemma by the hand pulling her over to a quiet bench back on campus, away from other students. “That’s not why I jumped.” Fitz repeated himself once they were sat down.

“Then why?”

Fitz dragged both hands over his face. On one hand he really did want to tell Jemma, to have the emotional intimacy that he craved but on the other hand he didn’t want to actually have to speak the words out loud, make it real by saying them. Of course, he had already told Skye, or implied it at least and he was fairly sure she had understood him. But that was different, Skye had had a rough childhood too, there was a level of understanding only achieved through lived experience and from everything Jemma had said about her parents… well she wouldn’t get it, not like Skye. What if Jemma was offended that her sudden movements reminded him of when his dad had hit him? What if she just pitied him? What if she didn’t want to be friends with someone who had violence written into their genetic make-up?

It had taken him a full year after his father had left to even tell his mother that he had hit him on occasion, always when his mother was out working or with friends. She had been horrified and ashamed of herself for not noticing, not seeing it. She had cried for weeks, her grief no longer about the man who had left but about her own lack of ability to protect her son. Fitz didn’t want to put Jemma through the pain he had put his mother through. He didn’t want Jemma to ever have any pain. He had had more than enough in his life and he wouldn’t wish even a fraction of that on someone else, let alone Jemma.

“Fitz, whatever it is you can tell me, if you want to, that is.” She said softly, seemingly sensing the emotional turmoil he felt. Fitz inhaled, willing the air to bring him the courage he needed.

“Do you remember what I said? At yours… about my dad?” Jemma nodded slowly. “He wasn’t just an alcoholic…” Fitz tried to meet her eyes, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it for more than a short second. “He would get angry, and most of the time it was just words, but not always.” He just hoped she didn’t ask for more detail, that that would be enough for her to understand. “And so sometimes sudden movements, it… well, it just… it reminds me…”

“Oh Fitz...” She said softly, gently putting her hand on his knee. “I’m so sorry, I would never have hugged you like that if I'd known.”

“I know.” Fitz’s hand was trembling, and he wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Thank you for telling me, I know that was difficult.” Jemma said, squeezing his knee tighter. They sat in silence for a minute. Neither sure what to say. There was a lot more Fitz could say, but he wasn’t sure he was ready for that. “Oh you must have thought me awful, coming in after my phone call with my dad and complaining about him when we watched Sherlock. Oh Fitz I’m so sorry.”

“What? No. Just because my father is a no good dirtbag doesn’t mean you don’t get to vent about yours when you need to.” He hadn’t even thought of it like that. Of course he wanted to be there for her, hear her problems, offer help where he could.

“Still I-”

“Jemma just stop. This is why I don’t tell people. I don’t want to be treated differently.” Fitz pulled away from her, not sure if he had made a mistake in telling her.

“Sorry.” Was all Jemma said, awkwardly placing her hand on her lap after it had lost its purchase on his knee after his retreat. Perhaps his tone had been a little harsher than he had intended. Jemma brushed her hair behind her ear and looked down at her hands on her lap. “I’m sorry, I don’t like not knowing how to help.” She said after an awkward minute. “I think I preferred it when it was awkward because of your penis.”

“Jemma!” Fitz could feel his eyes bug out as he looked at her in shock.

And suddenly they were laughing, he wasn’t sure who had started first, but he could feel the awkward tension start to melt away. Maybe, just maybe everything would be ok.

“I can’t promise to always have the right response, but I will try my best. And I’ve been told I’m an exceptional listener.” Jemma said once their laughter had died down. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m here for you, whatever it is.”

“Thank you.” Fitz wrapped her in a sideways hug and Jemma lent her head on his shoulder. “Can you and Skye just promise not to mention my penis ever again?” Trying his very best to sound confident and slightly cheeky.

“I think we can agree to that.” Jemma said with a nervous smile. “Wanna walk me home?” Jemma asked, untucking herself from his side and pulling him up off the bench by his arm.

“Alright I’m coming. No need to yank my arm out its socket.” Fitz protested.

As they walked the 10-minute walk back to Jemma’s they fell back into their easy friendship and Fitz was relieved that they seemed to be past their road bump. He was very aware of every time her arm grazed his. Each point of contact sent shivers down his spine, which was unusual. Normally unexpected physical contact put him on edge, but this didn’t feel like that. It was different. Probably just a result of sharing some of his past with her, he told himself. That was all it was, he was almost certain.

When they got to the flat complex they stood and chatted, Jemma made no move to go into the building and Fitz made no move to head back towards the main road to begin the long walk home. Fitz wondered if she too was worried, that the spell would be broken if one of them left, that they would go back to being awkward again. He still wasn’t quite sure how he was coping in her presents but the way her smile seemed to glow under the streetlamp helped put him at ease.

After at least half an hour of standing in the cold and chatting, Jemma shivered. “I think I should head in now.” She said with a shy smile.

“Yeah probably.” Fitz agreed, taking a small step back. And then very slowly Jemma moved towards him, looking like she didn’t want to scare him away. She had a shy, almost nervous look on her face. Fitz wasn’t sure what was happening and remained frozen to the spot. If he didn’t know better he might think she was going to kiss him.

And then, to his surprise, she did.

Not on the lips of course, but on the cheek.

“Good night Fitz. See you tomorrow?” Jemma said softly. Fitz could feel a blush rush to his cheeks, he only hoped she couldn’t see.

“Yeah, absolutely.” And then she turned and disappeared into the building. Fitz found his hand reaching up to meet where she had kissed his cheek. Unsure what to make of it. She’d never done that before.

Slowly he turned around and made his way back to the main road, hand still stroking the spot where her lips had met his skin.


	14. Day 47

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter introduced a headcanon of mine although it has more or less been disproven by the show at this point, but I still think it's interesting to explore and it was the idea that made me want to write this fic. So hopefully you'll find it interesting too.

Scattered across Skye and Jemma's lounge were numerous open textbooks and notebooks along with Skye’s disorganised collection of paper sheets that she kept notes in. Jemma was curled up in the armchair, her head in her book, occasionally popping up to add to the conversation or read aloud a particularly interesting line in her textbook. Fitz was lying on the futon, propped up against the armrest with a cushion stuffed behind his back. He was running some simulations on his laptop, the speed of which was causing him to curse more than either girl had ever been witness to before. As for Skye, she was lying on the floor on her front , propped up on her forearms and typing away furiously on her laptop and completely covered by blankets.

“Ugh!” Skye groaned as she pushed her laptop away from her, collapsing onto the floor. “They could at least try to make this interesting. Some of us have been doing this since we were ten!” Skye grumbled into the floor, frustrated at how basic her work was. She understood that some people had never done anything in the way of computer science before taking the course, but in her mind, they shouldn't have been doing it for a degree. “At least have like a separate degree, ya know, like one for the students like me, who know what we're doing, we just need a degree for the rubber stamp and to get a job. And, then one for the idiots who decided not to pick up a computer before they left home!'

“I think you're exaggerating a bit there Skye.” Fitz mumbled, lost in changing variables on his simulation.

Skye exhaled noisily. “Yeah, whatever…” She rolled over onto her back, letting her head drop against the floor with a thump. Jemma let out a little excited squeal and Skye chuckled. “You're in your own little world over there, aren't you Jem?”

“I've never met anyone who enjoys studying as much as she does, it's quite remarkable. If she applied herself to a proper science, she could be extraordinary.” Fitz teased.

“Lucky for you she didn't hear that, I think you'd have gotten a beating for that.” Skye chortled.

“All I'm saying is that physics is better.” Fitz said closing his laptop.

“Yet you aren't studying it?” Jemma retorted, apparently having been listening the whole time.

“Yes… well engineering is my calling, I need to make stuff, doesn't mean I don't follow the rest of physics.”

“Like how biochemistry is my calling and I keep tabs on science as a whole in my spare time?” Jemma countered.

“Touché…” Fitz said under his breath.

“What was that? I couldn't hear you?” Jemma said innocently. Fitz gave her a scowl.

“Vodka!” Skye shot up, growing tired of their mock argument.

“What?” Fitz asked, following her movement to the kitchen.

“Skye, we don't need to start drinking, we need to study.” Jemma chided.

“That's all you ever do, and I'm bored and there is no way that either of you needs to spend more time with your noses in books. Come on, let's have some fun.” Skye said excitedly, bringing the bottle into the lounge with three shot glasses.

“This is a study session, not a party…” Fitz said distractedly, still engrossed in his work, and now searching through a ginormous textbook.

“Yeah, well I'm bored and host, so I choose.” Skye muttered with finality.

“Co-host and shouldn't the guest choose?” Jemma added.

“Look, stop being so difficult and budge up.” Skye said, putting the glasses on the table and pushing Fitz's legs off the futon. Fitz grumbled before putting his laptop and book on the floor. Jemma slid off the armchair and sat on the floor with her back against it so that she was in reach of the coffee table. “Right, see, much easier when we all agree.” Skye said with a grin as she poured out the shots. Her determination to get the two drinking may or may not have been because of the snuggling that it resulted in the last time. And given that Fitz had made it clear he was happy to drink with them despite his alcoholic father, Skye didn’t feel too guilty about using a bit of alcohol to try nudge them in the right direction. “Right, so drinking games? Any suggestions?” Skye asked as she passed out the shot glasses.

“Ummm… No?” Fitz looked to Jemma for help. She shrugged her shoulders. “I think you're asking the wrong people Skye…”

“Great… because I usually just play beerpong… and any other games I’ve played I’ve been too drunk to remember them well enough to teach… and there’s only three of us…” Skye said disappointedly.

“Truth or dare?” Jemma offered.

“Not exactly a drinking game… But sure why not, we can get to know each other better.” Skye said with a smile that may have been a little slyer than she intended. “So what, you drink after you've had a turn or is it a forfeit?”

“Drink after each turn, two shots as a forfeit, just don’t make the shots too big yeah?” Jemma offered.

“Sure?” Fitz looked puzzled, clearly this was new territory for him. Skye nudged him and pointed to the pile of blankets on the floor in front of the kitchen where she had been camped out before. He slid off the chair and leant forward to grab the blankets and passed them to Skye. Jemma looked at her expectantly causing Skye to chuck her a blanket and both snuggled into them. “Honestly, it's not even cold.” Fitz scoffed.

“Whatever Scotland.” Skye rolled her eyes. “Right, who's going first?” Skye looked to each of them. “No? Okay fine, I'll go. Dare.” Skye said with a smile, not expecting them to think of anything good.

“Ummm, well… ummm…” Jemma mumbled. “Oh I'm no good at this…”

“You suggested it.” Fitz pointed out, pulling out his phone. “I'll find a generator or something.” He spent a minute or so looking through his phone before finding one. “Draw a moustache on your face?”

“That's a bit rubbish, but sure why not?” Skye said. Jemma stood up and grabbed a highlighter and chucked it to Skye who happily drew a curling orange moustache above her top lip. She downed her shot and refilled her glass, ready for her next one. “Right Jemma your turn next, we just keep using the app, makes things easier, and the more we drink the harder it will get to think of questions.” The others nodded and Fitz looked down to his phone to read the next one out.

“Truth or dare?”

“Truth?” Jemma asked, not sure which was worse.

“Ever stolen anything?” Fitz read.

“Nope.” Jemma answered popping the ‘p’ and looking very proud of herself before downing her shot.

“Right my turn… Dare I guess…”

“Read the first one, no cheating.” Skye said, peering over his shoulder.

“Remove uhh… remove three items of clothing...” Fitz said going a deep shade of red.

Skye let out a snort. “Come on then, off with it.” She encouraged, as Fitz sat next to her awkwardly. Despite the girls being wrapped in blankets, Fitz was only wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Meaning that once he removed his socks, either his top or jeans were coming off. Skye looked across to Jemma, who was blushing as furiously as Fitz, while she watched him decide what to remove. “Just saying, we've both already seen you in your undies.” Skye added, making him flush even more.

“Uuuhhh…” Fitz said, as he took his socks off and dropped them to the floor. “I guess… ummm.” He spluttered as he stood up and unzipped his jeans, quickly removing them and sitting back down. He reached out to grab one of Skye's blankets to cover himself up.

“Whoa, what do you think you're doing? That's cheating. No blankets for you Mr. ‘It's not even cold’. Nice Yoda underpants by the way” Skye said mischievously. Fitz sighed and grabbed the cushion from behind him to cover his boxers.

“Right Skye's turn again.” Fitz said taking his shot. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare, they're way more fun.”

“Okay… do squats for the next two rounds.” Fitz said with a vengeful smile.

“Hey! Let me check that?” Skye said snatching the phone off of him to check he wasn’t lying. Unfortunately, it did in fact say what he had just read out. Regretting her earlier statement, she pursed her lips together into a tight smile aimed at Fitz. “Fine.” Skye said downing her shot glass and standing up to squat. “Your turn Jem Jems.”

Jemma squinted at Skye, unsure about the new nickname, but turned to Fitz. “Dare, I guess.”

“Make a cocktail of three different drinks and down it.” Fitz read to her.

“Do we even have three types of drink here?” Jemma asked Skye.

“Yeah… if you don't mind mixing beer, cider and vodka.” Skye chuckled at their current lack of diversity in drink. They only ever got interesting drinks if they were going to or hosting a party. And given the rather impromptu nature of this drinking session, their cupboards were rather bare.

Jemma sighed and got up to go to the kitchen to make her cocktail. “How big am I making this?” Jemma asked through the archway between the two rooms.

“Just use one of our small glasses, don’t want you completely wasted. And do it equal parts of all three.” Skye answered.

“Just don't throw up…” Fitz added, obviously concerned about the size of their smaller, but not that small, drinking glasses.

“Great…” Jemma said, looking resigned to her impending intoxication. Jemma poured in the beer and cider into the glass before returning to the coffee table to pour in the vodka. “Bottoms up.” She said before drinking the whole drink with a grimace. Skye cheered as she finished, realising that she was already starting to feel slightly fuzzy. “I'm not having a shot as well, by the way.” Jemma said as she pulled a face in reaction to the drink. “Your turn Fitzy.”

“Ok, I'll do a truth.” He said and paused, waiting for the question to generate. “Who'd you lose your… virginity to?” Fitz mumbled, going slightly red. “Umm… I don't want to answer that…” Fitz said trailing off. If Skye hadn't already been certain of his lack of a sex life, now would have confirmed it.

“Alright, but double shots for you.” Skye said, feeling bad about his embarrassment and wanting to brush over the awkwardness as quickly as possible. It was meant to be a fun night, not about getting people to admit things that made them feel genuinely uncomfortable or embarrassed. “My turn. Truth please.” Skye said turning the focus to her, hoping it would ease her friend's embarrassment.

Fitz was still blushing and looked somewhat conflicted as he read from his phone. “Do you or have you ever smoked?”

“We talking tobacco or pot? I tried cigarettes at like fifteen and didn't think much of it, never tried it since. I'll smoke pot occasionally at parties.” Skye answered, avoiding Jemma's disapproving glare. The ‘occasionally’ was only there because she'd only do it if Jemma wasn't present, it just wasn't worth the lecture on why she shouldn't do drugs. The law was the law and all that…

“Truth.” Jemma requested with a hiccup.

“Have you ever got blackout drunk?”

“Nope, I'm a good girl.” Jemma smiled before giving Skye a pointed look. Skye rolled her eyes, there were some things the two of them would always seem to disagree on and how to spend your time at a party was definitely one of them.

“There’s a first time for everything…” Fitz murmured, giving the empty glass that had contained Jemma’s ‘cocktail’ a wary glance.

“Your turn, no cheating Leopold.” Skye called out, pronouncing each syllable of his name separately.

“I'm right here Skye, no need to shout.” He said with equal volume, growing more at ease as the alcohol warmed his system.

“Shhh! We have neighbours.” Jemma warned them.

“Sorry…” Fitz and Skye said together as they shared a look of amusement at Jemma’s scolding.

“Okay… so… ugh… why do I keep getting the clothes related ones? Swap… swap underwear with someone of the opposite sex…any takers?” he asked hesitantly.

“Don't look at me, I'm still doing squats.” This really couldn’t have worked out better if Skye had planned it herself.

“So that leaves me I suppose…” Jemma said slowly. “Ummm how are we going about this?”

“And more importantly can I put my trousers back on because, ummm I don't think, umm knickers are umm… going to… cover me...” Fitz said going bright red again.

Skye let out a laugh before looking at Jemma. “Nope.” Both girls said in chorus. “You're smart you'll figure it out. Now go to the toilet and swap over.” Skye said, motioning them out of the room, still doing her squats. “But hurry my legs are burning.”

***

“So… how do we do this...?” Fitz asked, nervous as he and Jemma stood in the bathroom together. He looked at her expectantly, wanting her to take over the situation and resolve it, he was already just in his boxers and t-shirt, he wasn't sure he was ready to swap in her knickers.

“Umm, right so if you take a towel off the rail there.” She pointed to the rail between the bath and the sink on his right. “And then we can hold that up and swap over I guess.” Fitz nodded before taking a towel. “Could you hold it up, whilst I take my jeans off?” Fitz nodded, averting his eyes. He examined the bathroom and found that the mat on which he stood was as good a place as any to focus. “Right, so, if I take off my knickers and then pass them to you. I can then take the towel whilst you swap and then you take the towel again whilst I put on your pants.” Jemma sighed after getting out her plan.

Fitz nodded and held the towel for a moment more before he saw Jemma kick her plain white knickers to him across the tile floor and onto the mat. He passed her the towel and pulled off his boxers, it crossed his mind that any other nineteen-year-old guy in a bathroom with a half-naked girl, would probably be in there for sex, not to swap underwear. It also crossed his mind that most normal nineteen-year olds would find that idea arousing. But as per usual he was the outlier, the weirdo virgin whose body failed him. _I really am broken…_

When he was younger he had thought maybe he was gay, like all his classmates believed, but he soon found that gender didn't have anything to do with it. He was just broken. The part of him that should want to jump her right now just didn't seem to exist. It was made all the more confusing by the fact that he did want a relationship. He wanted someone to kiss and cuddle, just probably not much more than that. But who in their right mind went into a relationship where sex was off limits? What was the likelihood of finding someone who he was actually romantically compatible with and actually liked him enough to give him a chance, and then agreed to not having sex? Slim. Very very slim. The whole thing frustrated him more than he cared to admit, not that he dare tell anyone about how inherently broken he was. Sex was basic human nature, it was in human DNA to want to pass on your genes, to procreate, and yet he seemed to be missing that basic instinct.

Before he allowed himself to dwell on his failings further, he slipped on her knickers. As he had feared they didn't really hold him in, he would have to cover himself up as he walked and sit with something in front of him. He positioned himself so that as he stood he was all covered and then dropped his boxers over the towel dividing them. Taking hold of the towel again he looked back down at the knickers. They had a small bow on the front and had a slight bit of lace along the edge of the material. They were simple, simple but pretty. “You ready Jem?” He asked before putting the towels back on the rail at the sight of her nod. Jemma was back in her jeans and had an awkward smile on her face.

“Well you've certainly never looked better.” Jemma smirked, clearly trying to break the tension, before going to open the door. She walked out, albeit slightly wobbly from the alcohol, as if nothing out of the ordinary had taken place. With a deep breath Fitz followed her out, taking his hands down to cover his crotch and Jemma's underwear, regretting his choice to remove his jeans and not his top earlier. He was more than ready for his next shot.


End file.
